Paradox
by Rose Stetson
Summary: He thought he was ready for anything that she could have told him, but he was wrong. Still, what should have broken them apart actually made them pull together with more passion, strength and courage.
1. The News

**Paradox**

Colonel Samantha Carter, USAF, stormed down the corridors of the Pentagon. General Hammond, President Hayes, the former President of the United States, former Vice-President Kinsey, the various joint chiefs…stuff them all! She was going to tell him, dammit! She was going to tell him everything. He deserved to know.

She didn't know why or how it had all started, but it began shortly after they met the Asgard called Thor. She didn't know what had happened let alone how or why, but for the last eight years, she had periodically gotten pregnant with and given birth to three of his children. And they had barely even kissed! And to make matters worse, she had just found out a little over a week ago that she was pregnant again.

She marched into Jack's secretary's office and before the captain was able to open her mouth to utter a welcome, Sam reached for the door handle that connected to Jack's office and turned it.

"The General's on a call. You're not allowed…"

By now, the door was open and Jack turned his chair toward the door in surprise. The poor secretary shrugged as Jack indicated a need for silence. He nodded and motioned for the secretary to leave. Once she had left, he placed his index finger carefully midair to indicate that she should wait a moment while he ended his phone call.

"Hey, guys, I'm sure you know what you're doing. You wouldn't be here otherwise. Now, do me a favor and call Hank. Tell him about it. Something just came up."

Without waiting for a reply, he hung up the phone. Then, as he stood up, reaching for his jacket, he spoke. "They're probably going to come down to curse me live in a few minutes. We should go to lunch."

Without a word, Sam sank down into the chair by the desk and began sobbing. This was Jack, and she'd missed serving daily with him. Hell, she'd just missed being with him.

He stood awkwardly positioned with one arm in his jacket sleeve and the other behind his head. "You okay?" He asked, recovering slightly.

He finished putting on his jacket and then, as he walked around the desk, he reached for the Kleenex and offered the box to her.

"Thank you." She said, sniffling as she took a tissue from the proffered cardboard box.

Jack sat, perched against the desk. "What's going on?"

She wiped her nose and turned her red, puffy eyes upward. "You may want to take the rest of the day off. I've got quite a story to tell you."

--

They sat across from one another at the restaurant, Jack looking at the menu and Sam sitting nervously watching him. They sat in silence until the waiter arrived.

"May I get you something to drink?" He asked, politely, his notepad and pen in a ready position.

"Beer." Jack said, closing his menu, decisively.

The waiter quickly jotted it down and turned to look at Sam. Her stomach was doing flip flops and it was not just because she was nervous. "Just water, please."

A few minutes later, he brought out their drinks and retrieved his pad and pencil. "Are you ready to order.

Jack nodded. "I'll have the hamburger with French fries."

"Okay." He said, scrawling the order down, and turning to Sam without looking up. "And you?"

"Oh…nothing."

The waiter and Jack eyed her quizzically.

"She just needs another minute or two." Jack said, effectively dismissing the waiter.

"What's up?" He asked, studying her.

"I had something on the plane." She lied.

He saw through the charade, and nearly mentioned that he had been planning on paying for the meal, but decided that might be a bad course of action. If Samantha Carter even suspected a trace of pity, she'd clam up and that'd be the end of that.

A few minutes later, the waiter returned, after Sam and Jack enjoyed an anxious companionable silence. "Do you have a soup of the day?" Jack asked, without looking at Sam.

"Yes, we do. It's a French onion soup. It comes in a bread bowl."

"We'd like that."

Inwardly, Sam groaned. She was one of those women that had relatively light morning sickness, but today was one of her worse days. The very thought of seeing anything even used to prepare food was making her stomach turn with nausea, let alone a rich French onion soup. Though Jack had thought that he was being fairly stealthy, she knew that the bread bowl of soup was for her. And it made her gag.

"You know, you didn't have to do that." She said, as the waiter walked away.

"Do what?" Jack asked, returning his gaze to her.

She tried to laugh, but in doing so, she was afraid that she would lose the contents of her relatively empty stomach.

"So, how's things?" He asked.

"Bumpy." She said, honestly.

"Still with…what's his name?"

"Nick."

He'd been gone almost the minute that she'd found out that she was pregnant. She thought that they had been relatively close to marriage, but apparently, she had been wrong.

Some friend of her brother's he had turned out to be. Then again, some brother Mark had turned out to be, continually thrusting single men in her direction to hide the "affair" that she'd been carrying on with her commanding officer.

If it hadn't bothered her father, why had it bugged her brother that much? After all, wasn't this the man who was dead set against all military types? And wasn't her father the one who insisted that every military regulation was in place for a reason and was to be carried out with exactness?

"Yeah, him."

"No. He didn't like the instant family."

"What does that make?" He asked, casually, though inwardly he knew the answer. She had gone through about twenty boyfriends since she had gotten pregnant with Grace eight years ago.

She knew that he was referencing the umpteen men she'd dated over the last eight years. The problem was that if she dated them and told them about her family, they'd dump her instantly, not wanting the stability that a family required. Or, if that didn't bother them, and they continued their relationship, she would end up pregnant and they would leave her on the grounds of infidelity. The irony was that by dating them, their grounds were completely justified…to a certain extent. After all, wasn't a woman supposed to be faithful to the father of her children?

"I've lost count," she said, candidly.

Jack bit his lip. When would she ever learn? The guys she dated obviously used her for sex. Then, once she became pregnant, they would leave. Not that she lost her sex appeal…she became much lovelier the more pregnant she was…but that wasn't the point.

Suddenly, everything clicked in his mind: the tears, the nervousness, the water, her green look whenever food was even mentioned…she was pregnant with her fourth child, and this Nick had left her because of it.

"You were practically engaged to the guy." He said, casually.

"Well, some people are stupid like that." She said, taking a sip of the water in front of her, trying to settle her stomach.

"When are you due?" He asked, tired of the small talk rut that they had gotten into.

She choked on her water. "Excuse me?" She asked, as she reached for her napkin, her hands shaking like dry leaves on a fall wind.

"Come on, Sam. I can see the pattern just as well as the next guy. If they don't leave after your first date, they leave you pregnant."

She just stared at him, tears stinging her eyes. Because of her surprise, they didn't fall, but if she didn't get a grip on it soon, she'd be spending the rest of the afternoon in the ladies' room, wiping the tears from her cheeks. If only he knew that she had done nothing to deserve the lonely burden she had been given of single parenthood. If only he knew that he, in some backward way, was responsible for this mess. If only whomever had messed with her hadn't done what they had done. He wouldn't have been sitting in front of her, accusing her of being such a tramp!

Jack noticed her moist eyes, trembling lip and hands. Instantly, he felt bad. He had not intended to make her feel stupid in her relationship management, though he did think that she had a few screws loose when it came to choosing men.

"I'm sorry, Sam. I didn't mean to upset you. It's just that…well, can't you see it from my perspective? And I'm not the only one who feels this way, Daniel and Teal'c are also concerned. We can see that you're dating a great many men and that each of them are the scum of the earth. Can't you tell that they're just using you for sex?"

She slapped him as the waiter arrived with her soup. "Don't ever accuse me of being a tramp again." She whispered harshly.

The waiter placed the plate in front of her and dashed away, obviously uncomfortable with the scene unfolding at this table. Almost immediately, she dashed away to the restroom. The rich smells had wafted toward her nostrils, and her stomach had lurched violently. But in her haste to reach the bathroom before she began retching, she neglected to see Jack's confused look. What had he done to deserve that? He asked himself. Sure, he had been a bit calloused and perhaps even insensitive, but there had been moments in her other pregnancies that he had said something similarly insensitive and she had never gotten physically violent. She hadn't so much as thrown an inanimate object, even during labor and delivery.

In fact, there had been times when either he, Daniel, or Teal'c said something offensive or insensitive and she simply turned on her heel and locked herself in her lab, refusing entrance to the offender, but…he could never recall an instance when someone had offended her so greatly that she had gotten violent.

He sighed. Obviously, he had hit a nerve. Now if only he could figure out what nerve he had hit, he could figure out how he had hurt it and how to fix it.

--

Sam knelt on the floor of the restroom, praying to the porcelain god. In the back of her mind, she realized that throwing up in the restroom of a restaurant would undoubtedly end their stay there, but she didn't care right now.

She wiped her mouth with a few squares of toilet paper. She had slapped him. It had been a reaction to the way he had verbally slapped her, and she wasn't sure that she was entirely sorry about it. After all, even though he hadn't known that he was the father of her children, he had known her, and shouldn't have insinuated that she even had time for…hidden agendas. She had barely been able to have coffee or dinner with these guys. She was too busy saving the damn planet! Every time she thought she was ready to settle down, she would find out that she was, in fact, heading in for another disaster.

Suddenly, she heard the door open. Quite frankly, she didn't care about it as she threw the toilet paper in the toilet and flushed the contents of her stomach down the toilet. She stood up, and walked out of the stall only to find Major General Jack O'Neill standing in front of her, his left cheek looking red.

She didn't say anything as she swallowed her pride and walked toward the sink where she proceeded to wash her hands and rinse her mouth.

"I've got an extra toothbrush at home." Jack said in response to the thoughts running through her head.

She closed her eyes, still tasting bile. It pained her to admit that he had just read her thoughts. "You shouldn't be in here." She said, her teeth clenched.

"Oh…you mean in the ladies' room? Yeah…apparently it's being cleaned. And our meal is free if we don't say anything." He said with a straight face. Others would have thought that he was being remarkably candid, though she could hear the gentle teasing in his voice. It made her smile.

"So…doing a little better?"

She turned and got a paper towel. "Who?" She asked, "Me or you?"

"Ouch." He said, placing one hand on his chest as if she had just wounded him.

She smiled in response, telling him everything that he needed to know in that mega-watt smile.

"Let's go to my place. You can brush your teeth, I'll get some dry toast, and we'll talk."

She very nearly blurted it out there, but fortunately she realized that he had the right to have the privacy to react in whatever way he did.

"Sure."

He held the restroom door open for her, and she had the fleeting thought that she'd be lucky if he didn't throw her out of his apartment once she finally did gather up enough courage to tell him.

--

Jack unlocked the door to the apartment and opened the door for her. "It's not much, but it's home."

She nodded, walking into the room, nervously.

"Uh, the bathroom's down the hall to the left. I'll, uh, get that toothbrush for you."

She bit her lip as he left. She looked around the living room, the same pictures of Sara and Charlie lining the walls as had done so at his house in Colorado Springs. There should have been four- and nearly five- other people's pictures around this house. She studied the pictures of Charlie with a renewed interest. Michael was growing up to be the spitting image of his older half-brother. In fact, it was frightening to look at that picture and realize that it symbolized a young boy who was no longer living while he had a younger half brother who was laughing and playing much like he had done when he was alive.

Chills ran down her spine. In her own way, she had come to love Charlie, but she had simply fallen in love with a memory that Jack refused to share with her. Actually, that he had refused to share with anybody. But the reality was that she probably would have killed herself if something like that had ever happened to any of her own children.

Jack returned, holding an unopened package with a toothbrush in it. "Here."

She swallowed back the tears that had begun to make their presence known. "Thank you." She said accepting the toothbrush.

She walked humbly toward the bathroom and brushed her teeth. She felt remarkably more refreshed as she walked back into the living room. Jack, who had been standing at the bar, turned to face her as she entered. In one hand, he held a glass of water. "I thought you might like this." He said, handing the glass to her.

"Thanks." She said, accepting it. She sat on the tan leather couch, fingering the glass in her hands. All of the resolve she'd had for the last few hours was slowly slipping from her grasp.

"You ready to tell me what's on your mind?" He asked, sitting diagonally across from her in a matching overstuffed armchair.

She gave a nervous smile. "Not really."

He raised an eyebrow.

She bit her lip. "All of my children, including the one I'm carrying right now, have the same father."

He had believed himself ready for anything, but the thought of Samantha Carter returning to the arms of the same man who was either ashamed of being with her or of whom she was ashamed of being with, was not one that he had anticipated. Meanwhile, she had deliberately planned to have each one of these children. With someone else.

"So…all those guys?" He asked, not wanting to implicate that she was lying. However, he gave her a similar look to the one that he reserved for the likes of Maybourne and Kinsey.

"Actually, I did date all of them." She said, not deterred by the obvious coldness that he was showing her.

"So, you just kept going back to the same scum bag?" He said without thinking.

Tears stung her eyes, and to hide them, she looked down at her hands. She carefully folded her hands together, clasping them together, while allowing her index fingers to lean fully extended against one another as she pointed them to the ground. "You mean you?" She asked, so softly that she was afraid that he wouldn't hear her.

She looked up to see that Jack had frozen in utter surprise. "Excuse me?"

"You're their father." She said, not allowing the tears that had stung her eyes earlier to fall.

"You're joking, right? I mean…I know what it takes for a couple to have kids, and we haven't…I mean…with each other…"

"I know. And I'm not kidding." She responded solemnly to his disbelieving tone.

He just stared at her for a while. "Why the hell haven't you told me before now?"

She flinched with his harsh tone. "Because I couldn't." She said in a quiet voice, but it pierced him to the heart. A few tears managed to find a way past her defenses and they slowly rolled down her cheeks.

"You couldn't?" He asked, almost in shock.

She looked pleadingly toward him. The look on her face nearly tore at his heart. "I was under orders. Technically, I still am, but…"

By now, the dam of emotion had broken and there was no stopping the tears that flowed down her cheeks. While she loved each of her kids more than life itself, the heavy burden of keeping this phenomena a secret had become nearly unbearable in the last few years. Now that the truth had come out, it was time to let out the feelings of fear, inadequacy, frustration, and pain with it.

He hesitated for a moment before getting up and walking over to where she sat on the couch. He sat beside her and put his arm around her shoulder, and she leaned into him, sobbing into his shirt as she allowed herself to be enveloped in his strong embrace. They sat like that wordlessly for a few moments before Sam wiped the tears from her eyes. "I'm sorry."

"Don't be." He said, reluctantly letting her go from his grasp. "So why couldn't you tell me that I was the father of your kids?"

"It was classified top-secret by the President of the United States."

His eyes widened, in surprise, and then in anger. "So, that's what you get for saving the planet? The President of the United States decides whether or not you need to know about your own family!" He ranted.

"Actually, he decided that our family's safety was the number one priority. That's why he did it."

Jack raised an eyebrow.

"The NID have been after the kids just because I was Jolinar's host! How much more interested would they be if they could find a way to discredit SG-1 because of our non-existent personal relationship?"

He grinned teasingly. "I wouldn't call it non-existent."

"Okay…" She challenged, though somewhat amused by his statement. "Did we or did we not get help in conceiving not one, not two, but four children?" She asked.

"Yeah," he said, getting more serious.

She felt bad for getting so serious, so she reached for his hand. "I'm sorry."

He smiled. "You're fine." They sat in silence for a few moments before Jack asked the question that had been on his mind for the last few minutes. "How did this happen?"

Sam looked into his inquiring face and was reminded of the day shortly after she had found out she was pregnant for the second time. Janet had handed her the results of the amniocentesis.

"_Guess who?"_

_Sam looked at her in disbelief. "You're kidding."_

"_This would be a lot less complicated if I were." She said, sympathetically._

"_Ya think?" She asked, sarcastically as she looked up at Janet before placing her head in her hands again._

"_You realize you look exactly like him when you do that, don't you?"_

_She looked up at her friend and physician and gave her a look of venom._

"_I'm not trying to rub it in, Sam, it's just that you're going to have to be a lot more careful with that whole za'tarc thing."_

"_Janet, why is this happening to me?" Sam asked. "No…how is it happening?"_

_Janet shrugged. "I don't know. You're positive that you haven't had any physical contact with Colonel O'Neill?"_

"_None." She affirmed._

"_I don't know, Sam. It's possible that whomever is responsible for Grace actually fertilized a number of the eggs in your ovaries and that each time one is passed, it attaches itself to your uterus wall, but…that defies everything that I know about the human body. I mean, for any other woman, that would result in an eptopic pregnancy, and that's potentially fatal for both mother and fetus. But when I did the sonogram, I didn't see anything that could even remotely point to an eptopic pregnancy. Whoever did this must have put these eggs in a temporary stasis that ends when it leaves your ovaries. But that's so far beyond the medicine that I practice, that I can't even be sure that I'm speculating correctly."_

"_The Asgard." Sam said with a sigh._

"_What?"_

"_Well, it fits…Both Colonel O'Neill and I had had contact with the Asgard by the time that I conceived Grace."_

"_But why would they want to take the risk of potentially killing you?"_

_Sam took a deep breath. "Look…they're pretty desperate to solve the problems with their cloning technology. They can't keep repeating these ways because eventually, the clone starts to deteriorate. Each copy is a little less physically able to function the way the last generation of bodies did. Maybe this wasn't really about me, I was just the conduit who happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time."_

"_You're okay with this?"_

"_I never really said I was okay with it, but…there are worse things that could have happened."_

"Janet and I thought that the Asgard had something to do with it."

"Like Thor?" Jack asked, his eyebrows raised high.

"Not exactly…though I can't be one hundred percent positive. I think it may have been one of the Asgard scientists, like Loki, who took things into his own hands."

"You know…as much as I like Thor, I can't stand anyone else in his race."

She smiled. "As much as we could protest to this, I like to remind myself that if it wasn't for them, I wouldn't have…we wouldn't have the beautiful kids that we have."

"You know, that's weird."

"What's weird?"

"Other than the whole thing…I find out that I not only have kids, but you and I have kids…together…and it's all Thor's fault!"

She laughed. "Is that a problem?"

"No, of course it's not a problem, just…it doesn't make a lot of sense to me…"

She smiled. "I know…me either."

"And you're really…I mean…we're…"

Sam reached into her purse. "Somehow I knew you were going to ask that. For some unexplained reason, regular pregnancy tests don't work on me, and so I don't find out for sure that I'm pregnant until I'm about done with my first trimester. So, Dr. Lam ran a sonogram, to see how far along I was."

She handed the black and white photos to him. "So…you tell me."

She folded her hands together as she tilted her head to the side, watching him study the sonogram photos.

"Wow." He breathed.

"Yeah." She agreed.

"Is it just me or are these events almost too perfectly placed around big…'us' events?"

"No, it does."

"I mean, Grace was born when I came back."

"From Edora." She finished.

"Yeah." He muttered softly.

_She sat, watching the Stargate as the particle beam generator began to emit radiation that would hopefully penetrate the iris on the Edoran gate. She very well should have been on maternity stand down since she was only two days away from her due date, but she had miraculously been able to convince both Doctor Fraiser and General Hammond to let her continue carefully supervised work on the project._

_She had been growing more and more uncomfortable all day, receiving periodic sharp pains shooting down her back. After the first few pains, she had the nagging suspicion that she was in the early stages of labor. But she continued working on finishing the project. After all, she was only a few hours away from getting Jack home. However, with each pain, her fears continued to resurface._

_Now, as she sat, watching her work in progress, she was having a hard time concentrating on her work. Suddenly, she received the strongest pain of the whole day. It caused her to groan involuntarily and as she did so, she rubbed her lower abdomen. "Not now," she whispered, her eyes closed as if in prayer._

"_Is there something wrong, Major?" General Hammond asked, glancing over at her._

_She looked up, trying to look stronger than she felt. "No, sir."_

_Suddenly, a clear liquid saturated her BDUs and the seat of the chair that she was sitting on. As that happened, she felt another strong contraction overcome her._

"_Dr. Jackson, please take Major Carter to the infirmary," General Hammond said, turning to the archaeologist._

_He nodded, instantly at Sam's side to help her._

"_No!" She gasped, pushing Daniel away. "I have to see if…" She bit her lip to keep from crying out._

"_Major, report to the infirmary. That's an order."_

_She nodded, finally allowing Daniel to take her._

"_The generator has now delivered the expected amount of radiation." Sergeant Walter Harriman reported as she left._

_General Hammond turned to Teal'c. "Bring him home safe, Teal'c."_

"_Indeed." He said, bowing._

"You know, I was kind of nervous when you asked me if I wanted to hold her."

She smiled, while giving him a look of questioning. "Really?"

"Yeah, I mean…I was dirty from digging the Stargate out, and…"

"And?"

He bit his tongue, not wanting to think about his farewell to Laira. Now knowing that Sam had been in labor to bring forth his child while he had told another woman that he loved her, he felt ten times more guilty than he had previously. "And I had just gotten back. After being gone for three months."

_Jack stood, leaning in the doorway, quietly watching Sam sleep in the isolation room. She was so beautiful, and he had almost given it up for another woman._

_Her eyes fluttered open, almost as if she sensed his presence. "Sir?"_

_He smiled, walking toward the bed. "Hey, Carter, I hear that I missed all the excitement."_

_She smiled, weakly. "Yes, you did."_

"_A girl?"_

_She nodded. "Grace Thea Carter"_

"_Ah."_

_There was a moment while he processed the name, then he looked up at her again. "Thea?"_

"_My mother's name."_

_There was a bit of an uncomfortable silence as they started to look into one another's eyes. Finally, he mentally shook the haze from his mind. "Teal'c told me that you were the one responsible for getting me home."_

_She shrugged. "Oh, you would have done the same for me."_

"_No, I wouldn't have."_

_She had always thought of them as friends-except maybe that brief moment in their first briefing together- so, when he said this, she looked at him, confused._

"_No, I mean…I'd try to get you home, but…I wouldn't be able to build a particle whatever-the-hell-it-is thing and melt an iris to get you home."_

_She smiled, but exhaustion laced every action that she did._

"_So…where's the little lady of the hour?" Jack asked, putting his hands in his pockets as he grew more and more bashful. He probably should have just let Carter rest. After all, she'd been in labor for…well, he didn't know how long exactly, it was just a long time to him._

_Sam looked around the room, "Janet just had her..." She said, somewhat confused, and therefore becoming fairly worried._

"'_Sokay." He said, trying to relieve her mind. "How've you been?"_

"_Kinda tired, actually."_

"_I'll bet. Daniel told me you've hardly slept for three months."_

"_He's exaggerating." She said with a smile. "Grace forced me to take some breaks."_

"_Like…" He asked, skeptically._

"_Oh, you know, the regular joys of third trimester pregnancy: frequent trips to the bathroom, mess hall and bedroom."_

_Just then, Janet walked in, the tiny newborn in her arms. "Colonel!" She said, surprised._

"_Hiya, Doc!"_

"_I want to take a look at you before you do much more, Colonel." She said, walking to Sam's side._

_She handed the infant Sam. "I thought I'd clean her up and bring her back."_

_Sam smiled and reached out to receive the tiny bundle. Tears moistened her eyes once more. She let her index finger glide against the sleeping infant's cheek. She looked up to see Jack's gentle smile._

"_Would you like to hold her?"_

_The look on his face changed to one of surprise. "Me?"_

_She nodded as she placed Grace into Jack's arms. He awkwardly held the infant in his arms, nervously looking at her._

"_She's beautiful." He whispered softly._

_Tears began falling down her cheeks, as she watched the father unknowingly hold his daughter. "I know."_

Ever since, Grace had had a special bond with Jack. Actually, all of her children had a special closeness that Jack hadn't had with Cassie and that Daniel and Teal'c hadn't had with Grace, Michael and Jacob. "You know, it means a lot to her when you come to her ballet recitals." She said, breaking the ice again. "In fact, they all light up when you show up to their events."

"Hey, I'm just glad I didn't miss Michael's homerun in little league." Jack said, with a smile. It had been hard at first to watch the little four-year-old play baseball, but he had been unable to say no when Michael looked up at him with those wide eyes. He had looked so much like Charlie then that Jack said yes.

Sam smiled at the memory of Michael's home run. He had struck his first home run only a couple of weeks ago while Jack was visiting Colorado Springs on business. "He's still talking about it."

There was another pause in the conversation before Jack looked her squarely in the eyes. "Do they know?"

"Know what?"

She saw his somber look and bit her lip. "I…I haven't told them anything."

He gave her a questioning glance, and she bit her lip. "Yes, I think they know."

"How?"

A tender smile, accompanied by moist eyes, lit up her face as she reached for his hand. "I don't know. It's possible that the Ancient gene you passed to them helped them to sense your paternity. But…I really have no idea."

He allowed her hand to slip affectionately into his. "But I do know that they have a different relationship with you than they have with either Daniel or Teal'c."

Jack looked at their entwined fingers. "So, we have kids together."

"Uh huh."

"What now?"

She cocked her head, sending her unasked question to him.

"I mean, do I just waltz into your lives or do I try to build a stronger rapport?"

"Our lives?" She asked, tears welling up in her eyes.

"If you want me."

She was silent, letting the tears slip quietly down her cheeks.

Jack put his arms around her, encompassing her in a large embrace. He placed his hand at the back of her neck, encouraging her to lay her head on his shoulder. "Sam, baby, don't do this." He begged.

She laughed in spite of the tears and pulled away, wiping the moisture from her cheeks.

"What?" He asked, confused.

"You thought I was angry?" She asked, somewhat confused.

"Why?" He asked cautiously, wondering what her response would be.

"Because I thought you were going to be angry."

"Me?" He asked, surprised.

"Jack, I kept your kids from you."

"No. You kept the fact that they were MY kids from me. You never kept them from me."

She chewed on that for a moment, before he looked at her with a bit of smile on his face. "Besides, did you really have a choice?"

She got defensive for a moment. "No! I already told you that."

"Okay, then."

"But if someone had done something like that to me, I probably would have…I don't know…I wouldn't have taken it as calmly as you are!" She finally yelled.

"Is that upsetting you?"

She sat, stunned. "I…no, I mean…" She stared at him. "I don't know. I mean, if you cared, you'd be reacting, but…"

Jack reached out and placed both hands on her face. "Sam, those kids have always seemed like my kids to me. And I've had feelings for you for a long time. All I got today was validation."

She opened her mouth to protest and he took one finger and placed it on her lips. "Did anyone tell you that this information had been declassified?"

She froze, then shook her head.

"So, you care for me too." It was a statement, not a question.

Wordlessly, she nodded.

"See, now we don't have a problem except the one that I posed earlier. Do I date you while spending more time with the kids? Do I move back to Colorado Springs? Do I retire?"

She laughed. "You've always had a one-track mind."

He tried not to laugh at that. "What?"

She kissed him. "I love you."

He was somewhat speechless and she smiled. "Ultimately, I think my other relationships failed because of that. Not the family, not the pregnancies…I was just too in love with you."

"You feel like going out tonight? Or should I just get in the car, and rent a chick flick?"

She smiled. "Chick flick sounds good. I'm not sure what I want to do is decent to do out in public."

Jack raised his eyebrows and she raised one of her own as she stood up and started walking. "Haven't you heard of hormones, Jack?" She asked seductively before ducking into the hallway.


	2. Relief

Jack pulled up in front of Sam's house in the blue sedan. He was back in Colorado Springs on vacation. Usually, he called her before he arrived at her house, but today, he had wanted to surprise her. It had initially seemed like a good idea, but now, the nervous fluttering in his stomach was disagreeing with him. Perhaps this was a bad day for him to just drop in. Then again, he wasn't trying to get anything out of the visit other than the satisfaction of knowing that he had helped Sam out.

As he walked up to the door, he could hear the kids running around. He chuckled as he rang the doorbell. All of a sudden, he heard the patter of tiny footsteps approach before hearing Sam's voice. "Kids, move away from the door!"

Just then, the door opened to reveal Sam, surrounded by her three kids. She was wearing jeans and an oversized t-shirt, her hair hadn't yet been combed, and there were dark circles underneath her eyes, indicating her exhaustion both from the pregnancy and from the energetic children that ran around her house. She looked at him, surprised. "Jack?"

"Hey, kids! How is everybody?" He asked, looking at the kids.

"Daddy!" Jacob said, running with his arms raised up toward Jack, nonverbally communicating his desire to be held by his father.

"Fine." Grace and Michael yelled, excitedly.

Sam seemed to be suffering from a headache because she grimaced at the loud noise coming from her two oldest children. She opened the door a little wider, motioning for him to enter the crazy household.

"How 'bout you, Sam?" He asked, as he walked into the living room that was strewn with books and toys.

Quite honestly, in the artificial light she looked even worse than she had when he saw her at the door.

"Mommy tick!" Jacob exclaimed informatively.

Jack looked at Jacob, his eyebrows lifted in question. "Have you been doing everything she asked you to do?"

His gaze swept over the older children more intently than it did over the two and a half year old he held in his arms. After all, Grace was seven and a half and Michael had just turned Five.

Sam grinned, sheepishly, though she lacked the energy to really feel that upset over getting caught.

"What can we do?" Michael asked, shrugging his shoulders with his palms turned upward.

"Well, are you playing with the toys that I see all over the living room?"

The two kids looked around themselves and looked back at Jack and shook their heads. "Well, I think it might help Mommy feel better if she didn't have the living room so messy." He said, wisely.

Almost instantly, Grace and Michael were cleaning up their toys and Jacob squirmed to get out of Jack's arms. Jack put the toddler down, and he joined in the cleaning up, dragging random articles toward a place in the toy chest. Both Sam and Jack realized that one of them would probably have to sort back through the bins that had been set aside as toy chests, but Sam was touched that little Jacob was so responsive and obedient.

Jack turned back to her. "How are you really doing?"

"Better."

"Better?" He asked.

An image of an android Jack O'Neill fighting with the human Jack O'Neill over the android's boastfulness came to mind and made her smile. She nodded.

"Can I take the kids off your hands this afternoon?"

"You came to Colorado Springs just to help me out?" She asked, in awe. None of the other men she had dated had even been close to being that kind and thoughtful. Then again, how many of them had intuitively realized that the cluttered house was stressful for her, she asked herself. Had she ever really given any of them a chance?

"Is that a problem?" He asked.

She turned away from him as she shook her head, trying to hide her tears.

"Sam, I know, I probably should have called first, but…I just came to help. Tell me what to do."

She turned around and threw her arms around his neck. "Thank you."

He allowed himself to complete the embrace by placing his own arms around her. He was understandably confused by her emotional outburst, but at least she was crying tears of gratitude than of frustration or anger. "So…I can or can't take the kids?" He asked after holding her for a few moments.

She laughed through her tears. "They're all yours, Superman."

Suddenly, a cry of rejoicing erupted from Jacob and Michael as they ran toward Jack. "Are we going to the park?" Michael yelled.

"Michael." Sam scolded. "Inside voice."

"May we please go to the park?" Michael asked, more carefully and softly.

Jack nodded. "To the park!" He said, trying to get to the same level as the Five year old.

Grace came up behind them. "Can we go to the library?" She asked, excitedly.

"And one hour at the library for our rabid reader!" Jack said, raising up to Grace's level.

Then, he unexpectedly turned to Sam, leaning close to her ear. "And a night on the town for the lady?" He whispered.

He pulled back and saw her raised eyebrow. He shrugged. "I've got to earn the couch somehow…"

She smiled. "What couch?"


	3. Surprise

At three o' clock, Jack parked the car by the sidewalk in front of Sam's house, and took a deep breath. The day had been long, but as he looked into his rearview mirror and saw his two young sons, Michael and Jacob, asleep on either side of Grace, who sat studying the books on her lap, he realized that it had been richly rewarding.

He got out and opened the back door right behind him. Carefully, he unbuckled Jacob's carseat and removed the sleeping toddler from the car. Grace then climbed over the carseat and followed Jack up to the door.

"Grace, would you please open the door?" He whispered.

She nodded and obeyed almost immediately. The door opened to reveal a much cleaner living room than he had left earlier that morning. He walked quietly through the hallways only to find Sam opening the door to the boys' room for him. He walked in and laid the two year old down on the toddler bed with a space-themed comforter/sheet set on it.

They walked out of the quiet room and Sam smiled. "You look like you could use a nap."

"Really?"

"Yep."

"Is that what made you look so much better?"

"That's what made me feel better." She corrected as she placed a kiss on his cheek.

"Mommy! Look at the books that Daddy helped me get at the library." Grace said, sitting on the couch with her treasures.

"I have to get Michael and then, I'll be back." Jack whispered, giving Sam a quick squeeze before going back outside.

Sam sat on the couch, placing her arm around her daughter. "Did your dad read any of these to you?"

She shook her head.

"No?" Sam asked, surprised.

"We read other books. But Daddy said that we could get new books and bring them home." There was a pause before Grace uttered one of the simple statements afforded childhood. "Daddy's smart."

Sam planted a kiss on Grace's head. "I know."

Jack walked past, Michael asleep in his arms, and Sam watched him, grateful for her outburst. This was what she should have had all those years ago. THIS was what she had been missing.

"Can you read to me?" She asked, looking up at her mother.

"Maybe. But right now, I need to talk to your dad. If I can't read to you, maybe Uncle Daniel can."

Grace's face broke into a smile. "Uncle Daniel's coming?"

"Yes. He's coming tonight while Mommy and Daddy are in Denver."

"Yay!"

"Now, will you please go into your room and rest. You don't have to sleep, but I would like you to lie down on your bed. You can look at your books, color, or draw."

"Yes, Mom."

As Grace bounded down the hallway, Jack walked over to join her on the couch from where he had been standing, leaning against the wall. "So…Denver?"

She smiled. "Well, Jack, you did take the kids where they wanted to go and promised me a night on the town…"

"All right. So, where are we going?"

"I made reservations for a place downtown. It's kind of a hole-in-the-wall little place, but…it's romantic, and I…"

"You don't have to explain any more." He said, with a chuckle. "Now, what did you need to talk to me about?"

She took a deep breath. "I'm leaving the SGC."

"What? Why?"

"Well, there are a lot of things…starting with the fact that I just don't have the energy to chase after alien bad guys and my kids."

He couldn't help but chuckle despite his surprise.

"But the other is that I don't want to be afraid of someone finding out about us, or you getting overprotective and doing something that one or both of us will end up regretting." She swallowed down a few tears. "And…I don't want Grace or any of the kids to grow up wondering what it would have been like if Mom had been to any events."

Jack put his arm around her.

"I've done the military brat thing, and I've done the motherless child thing…I don't want either to happen to my children. So…I'm giving it up."

Jack ran his fingers through her short hair. "You know, I could tell you that you're making the biggest mistake of your life. I could tell you that there are ways we can get around the things that we're afraid of. I could tell you that you're giving something up that has been a part of you for so long that I'm not sure I would know the woman without the Program." She looked up sharply.

"But I'm not going to. If it's really what you want to do, and what you think is best…I'll stand behind you. Firmly. You won't have to drag me kicking and screaming behind you."

She smiled, tears sliding silently down her cheeks. "Thank you."

He bent down and kissed her. "No, Samantha, thank you."


	4. A Night On Thor?

It was only a two hours before Daniel and Teal'c knocked at the door, ready to watch the O'Neill children.

"I'll get it." Sam called from the bedroom.

She emerged from the bedroom wearing a knee-length black cocktail dress with an empire waist that was paired with a light teal-colored cardigan. Her kitten heels made her feel a little taller, but also kept her from feeling that she would fall over. Her hair was slightly curled, and she wore a little almost imperceptible makeup. She opened the door to find two of her friends, and she grinned. "Hey, guys. Come on inside."

After closing the door, she quickly fastened the earring which had remained clasped in her fingers. She returned to her upright position with two modest earrings attached to her earlobes.

"Hey, Sam." Daniel said, offering her a hug.

She accepted it with a smile before Teal'c took his turn.

"The kids are in the play room with Jack." She said, leading them to the basement.

"Jack?" Daniel asked, surprised. "Is he babysitting too?"

"Nope." Jack said from where he stood, cheering Michael's basketball shooting. "I'm Carter's date."

Daniel raised an eyebrow in surprise. "Wait...what?"

Sam chuckled. "It's the truth."

Grace and Michael ran to the visitors. "Daniel! Teal'c!" They cried as they wrapped their arms around the men's legs.

Jacob ran as quickly as his stubby legs could manage with his thumb in his mouth as he dragged a worn blanket behind him.

"You never told me you had a little Linus, Sam." Daniel teased as he picked Jacob up.

Sam chuckled. "Well, you never asked."

"Come on, Sam, we're going to be late if we don't leave now."

"Right." She said, nodding as she leaned down to hug her three children.

Jack turned to Daniel and Teal'c. "We shouldn't be any later than nine or ten."

"That shouldn't be a problem." Daniel said, seriously.

"Bedtime is eight all around since it's Friday." Sam said, looking at Grace though she addressed Daniel and Teal'c. "They're already in their pajamas, so you shouldn't need to worry about anything except putting them in bed."

"Go. Have a good time." Daniel urged, helping them out of the house.

Sam chuckled. "Be good, kids." She admonished as Jack helped her out the front door.

"I hope they're good for Daniel and Teal'c." Sam said, worriedly as the door closed.

"They'll be fine." Jack insisted as he opened her door.

"I'm sure you're right." She said, preparing to get into the car.

A white light engulfed them, and Jack managed to stabilize Sam as she nearly fell onto the floor of the Asgard ship.

"Greetings Colonel Carter." Thor said, approaching them.

Sam got to her feet with Jack's help. "Hi, Thor."

"My apologies for interrupting any of your plans." He said, seriously.

"Yeah, Thor. What are we doing up here?" Jack asked, seriously.

"O'Neill, I am sorry, but we were only attempting to retrieve Colonel Carter."

"What? Why?" Jack asked, confused.

Sam sighed. "They want to document the progress of their...experiment."

"Is that true?" He asked, looking at Thor. "have they done this before?" He asked, looking at Sam.

She shook her head. "They've never done this before."

"Why now?" Jack asked, looking at Thor.

"Because we have only now been informed of the experiment." Thor said, hanging his head in shame. "We greatly regret the actions of this scientist. He was expressly forbidden to take any such action."

"Yet, he did." Sam said, looking at Thor.

"And here we are." Jack continued. "Again I ask, why?"

"Although the experiment was unsanctioned, the damage has been done. We are not certain of how to undo this procedure. Our best option is to determine which actions were taken by this rogue scientist and study its outcome."

"And do what?" Jack continued.

"Save our race." Thor said, gravely.

"Hm...sounds like Sam gets a whole lot of nothing in return."

Sam studied the Asgard across from them.

"It may be possible once we have studied Colonel Carter's physiology that we may reverse the procedure."

"Reverse?" Sam asked, blinking in surprise.

"You and your children, including this fetus, would be unharmed. We would merely keep this from happening again."

Sam inhaled deeply.

"We would only need to document the remainder of your gestational period." Thor said, seriously.

Sam winced at the term. "I feel like a lab rat," she whispered to Jack.

"You don't have to do this." He said, seriously. He looked back at Thor. "She doesn't have to do this."

"That is true." Thor nodded.

"They're desperate." Sam said softly. "And I'm going to have the baby anyway. We might as well do what we can to help."

Jack sighed. "All right. If that's what you want."

She gave him a small, grateful smile.

"We will need the cooperation of your medical personnel." Thor said, matter-of-factly. "We must know if this is a typical or anomalous gestation."

Sam inhaled. "No...gestation...is exactly alike. However, it would seem that besides your involvement, I seem to have typical pregnancies."

"Very well." Thor said, nodding. "I will take this under advisement."

"Thor, you said that you didn't want to interrupt our plans..." Jack said as a team of scientists began crowding around Sam.

"Were you endeavoring to follow through on previously laid plans, O'Neill?"

"Yes, as a matter of fact." He said, seriously. "Carter and I were going on a date."

There was no response from the Asgard team who continued their work. "We are recording the fetus heart beat for further analysis." One of the Asgard scientists said aloud.

A rapid swishing sound suddenly filled the room, and Sam's lips parted as she gasped gently.

Jack stopped dead in his tracks, and looked back at Sam. "Is that..."

She nodded.

Within a few moments, he was standing beside her. "Whoa..."

"Isn't it amazing?" She asked as tears moistened her eyes.

He didn't say anything; he wasn't much for words in general, but right now, his heart was too full.

"Commander Thor," one of the scientists said from the console. "The fetus is female, and according to our records is nearly one-third through the gestation process. Prognosis is good."

Sam's tears dried before they even fell to her cheeks. "A girl? We're having another little girl?" She asked as a small smile grew on her lips.

"Did you not know that you would either have a male or a female?" One of the Asgard asked with wide eyes.

"No, I knew that." She said, seriously. "I just...we weren't going to find out for a few weeks."

"Oh." The scientist said, nodding.

"Thor, can we go home?" Jack asked after a moment.

Sam looked over at him, concern on her features.

"You would like to go on your...date." Thor said, understandingly.

"Yes. Thank you."

"What is a date?" One of the other Asgard asked of another.

"It is a human ritual of courtship," was the response.

"Colonel Carter, may we continue our other tests at a later time?" Thor asked, looking at Sam.

She nodded.

"Only if you call first." Jack said, seriously.

"We will communicate with you through this stone." Thor said, handing Sam a small cloudy stone.

"Thank you." She said with a sober smile.

"I apologize for the inconvenience, O'Neill." Thor said, earnestly. I did not desire to offend."

Jack sighed. "You didn't offend, Thor. Just...call..."

"You have my word."

"Thank you."

Sam walked over to where he stood, and she gently rubbed his back in an unusual display of supportive affection. "I'll see you later, Thor." She said as Thor instructed one of the other scientists to return them to the surface of the planet.

They returned to where the car, and Sam looked over at Jack. "Maybe we should stay home." She said, gently.

"No, Sam. We have reservations." Jack said, gruffly. "Why don't you call them and let them know we'll be a little late?"

"All right." She said, retrieving her cell phone as she slipped into the front seat.

He got into the driver's seat and pulled out of the driveway.

Within a few moments, the reservation had been pushed back a half-hour, and Sam had put away her cell phone. "Jack..." She began.

"Yes?" He asked after a moment's hesitation.

"Are you all right?"

"Fine."

"Jack..."

"Sam, I'm fine."

"You got awfully snippy up there. It isn't Thor's fault that we're here."

"I know." He sighed, heavily.

She ran her fingers through his short, gray hair. "What was the problem, Jack? Was it Charlie?"

He sighed.

"Jack, I know you don't want to talk about it, but we have three - almost four - kids who are going to want to know. Don't you want to tell me first?"

"I killed him, Sam." He said, breaking down at the red light. "As sure as if I'd pushed the trigger."

"No, you didn't." She whispered, trying to comfort him.

He pulled into a parking lot and parked the car.

"The only thing Sara ever asked me for when we got married was that I would leave my work at the door when I got home. No guns, no reports, nothing like that." He whispered, vulnerably. "I told her that a lockbox for the gun would be enough."

"You made a mistake, and he had an accident. That doesn't make it your fault." She said, seriously. "Sara could have been the one who owned the gun just as easily as you were."

"You don't understand, Sam. I...I'm an Air Force general. If I have to protect my family, I don't want to kick butt, I want firepower."

"Jack, I do understand." She said, earnestly. "And I have a gun."

He looked at her in surprise.

"When I got pregnant with Grace, I thought a lot about you." She said, softly. "And so, I did some research. I have a lockbox, and the only key is in my underwear drawer with my vital records. It is in the corner of the closet, on the top shelf, so that the kids can't reach it. At least not yet. And I have plans to explain the dangers and protocol of firing a weapon when they reach the age of eight. Even then, they will not know where the gun is kept, and they will not know where the lockbox is. But if they ever snoop around, and I'm not there, I have told them everything that I could about how dangerous they are. That they are not toys, no matter how many kids are playing with replicas."

He seemed somewhat hesitant to accept the situation as it was, and she continued. "Jack, as a soldier, I don't want my kids playing with guns of any kind. They're not toys. That responsibility to protect yourself, your family, and your country is not one to be taken lightly because you want to carry a weapon. You know that, and I admire you for it. A lot of people think of military service as one big game of cops and robbers. And then, they go out into the field and discover that it's so much more than that."

She tilted his chin so that he would look at her. "Our children will understand that if that's the only thing we manage to teach them. They will respect life - in all its forms."

"You're amazing." He said, honestly. "I am completely amazed by you."

She blushed.

"How did you get to be so amazing?"

"I don't know." She said with a shrug. "Maybe I was just lucky."

"I'm the lucky one." He said, leaning in and kissing her forehead.

"Are you okay now?" She asked, softly. "Do you think we can be on our way again?"

He nodded. "Yeah."

"Good. I'm starving." She said, lightening the mood.

He chuckled. "Food for the pregnant woman coming up!"

"You better believe it." She said, putting her seatbelt back on. "It was all I could do to keep from belting Thor from keeping me from my Italian food."

He laughed loudly. "Italian food?"

"Actually...just a charming pizzeria." She admitted.

"Ooh...yummy."

She giggled as he started driving again.


	5. Thinking

It was ten o'clock when Jack O'Neill drove up to the Carter residence. He helped Sam out of the car, and they walked up to the front door.

Sam opened the door, and walked in to find Teal'c and Daniel playing chess on the kitchen table. "How were they?" Sam asked, recognizing instantly how quiet the house sounded.

"Fine." Daniel said with a smile. "We had pizza, we played some games and with some toys, and then we cleaned up and went to bed on time."

"You're a miracle-worker." She said with a chuckle.

He shrugged. "Teal'c followed Jacob around, and I played with Michael and Grace."

"That's usually the grouping." She agreed. "Thanks so much for helping."

"It was a very enjoyable experience." Teal'c said, nodding.

She grinned. "Well, I can't complain. They're sweet kids."

"What happened when you left? I could have sworn that I saw Asgard beamlights." Daniel said, looking at the couple.

"Thor...wants to document my pregnancy..."

"He never wanted to do so before..." Daniel said, suspiciously.

"He claims not to have had any knowledge of the experiment until now." She said, somewhat unconvinced.

"He's the supreme commander of the Asgard fleet. He didn't know?" Daniel asked, incredulously.

"He says it was a rogue scientist like Loki."

"There are more than one? That makes me feel safe..."

"Anyway, Thor says that the damage has been done, and that the only way to have any prayer of keeping this from happening again is to let him study me."

"What did you say?" Daniel asked, eyeing Jack worriedly.

"I said that if he called first, I'd be happy to offer any...insights...that I can." Sam said, matter-of-factly.

"I wanted to tell them to go to hell." Jack said, seriously.

Sam shook her head as she closed her eyes. "It's not Thor's fault..."

"She's said that for the whole night. I feel like blaming someone, and Thor's the first one who comes to mind."

"Loki may have been the one who started all of this rogue science business. Maybe you should blame him." She said, pointedly.

"Okay, find me Loki, and I'll blame him."

Sam sighed. "At any rate, we're home now."

Daniel nodded. "Well, let us know if you need any more help."

"I will." She promised as she walked them to the door.

A moment later, she returned to the kitchen where Jack had retrieved a glass of water. "They're gone."

"It was nice of them to watch the kids."

"Yes, it was." She agreed.

"So...a girl..." He said after another moment.

"Yes." She nodded. "A girl."

"Got any names you've been thinking about?"

"Not particularly." She said, shaking her head. "I used my two girl names on Grace."

"Where did you get the name Grace?" He asked, nonchalantly.

"There was a woman at church when I was young whose name was Grace. She was the most elegant woman I'd ever seen, and I've always wanted to name my daughter Grace."

He nodded, silently.

She studied him for a moment. "What is it?"

"My mother's name was Grace." He said, looking into the glass of water.

"Oh?" She asked, surprised.

He nodded.

"Tell me about her." She invited.

"I grew up in Minnesota, which I think you knew..." He said, looking at her. She nodded affirmatively. "Anyway, when I was young, my father insisted that I join the hockey team. He said it was a way to build teamwork, keep me out of trouble, and generally keep me out of his hair."

Her brow furrowed at the calloused way in which he described his father.

"I loved hockey, and it was the only thing that my dad would talk about with me." He said, thinking back through the years. "When I was fifteen, I had a knee injury which set me back in hockey. Dad didn't talk to me after that."

Sam wanted to say that she couldn't understand such a thing, but it wasn't true. Before staring death in the face and blending with Sel'mak, her father had been quite similar.

"My mother was the only reason I didn't run away at that point." He said, seriously. "She was a saint. She put up with my dad's long hours as a cop, and she nursed our bumps and bruises tirelessly." He said, finally.

"When did you join the Air Force?" She asked, looking over at him.

"I was eighteen, and decided to go to the Academy. I didn't want to be a cop; that much I knew. And the Air Force would pay for school if I put in my years. I figured I might as well try it."

"And?"

"I left Minnesota without a second thought. My mother corresponded with me faithfully until she died." He paused for a moment, and she could see how much he wished that the water was something a lot stronger. "I was deployed in the Gulf when my dad sent me the letter informing me that she'd died." He sighed. "I couldn't go to the funeral for obvious reasons, and I haven't heard from my father since."

"You should see him." She said, softly.

"Why?" He asked, raising an eyebrow. "He's probably a bitter, old man if he's still alive. He never liked the military, and the fact that I was an officer really pissed him off."

"Jack, you don't like to leave things unfinished." She said, seriously.

"And that chapter on my life is finished, Sam."

"If you say so." She said, inhaling softly. "I think I'm going to head to bed. Are you coming?"

"Might as well."

They walked silently into the bedroom where each quickly dressed into their pajamas and brushed their teeth.

Sam slipped between the sheets before Jack did, and she bit the inside of her cheek as she waited. Did she dare bring up the issue of his father? It was something which she felt rather strongly about. She didn't feel it was unreasonable to feel so strongly since Jack's father was the only potentially living grandparent that their children would know from here on out. Her father had been involved in their lives until his death a couple of years ago. Didn't Jack's father have the same right to at least meet his grandchildren?

She knew Jack had a sordid past, but who didn't have things that they needed to reconcile? The point was to find some sort of reconciliation before it was too late.

With a moment of silent hesitation, Jack walked over to the bed.

"Are you getting in?" She asked, looking up at him.

"I...I'm not sure..."

"Jack, it's all right. I won't bite." She promised.

He sighed before he slipped between the covers.

Sam bit her lip before she rolled over. "Jack?" She asked, placing a hand on his arm.

"Yeah?"

"Thank you for sharing about your parents." She said, softly. "I'm sure that was difficult for you."

He was silent.

"I'll try to be more patient with you about your dad. Okay?"

"Okay." He finally managed.

"I know it wasn't exactly the way we planned, but today was really excellent." She said, cuddling up to him.

He was quiet as he wrapped an arm around her.

"What is it?" She asked, concerned that he wasn't comfortable lying with her.

"I'll think about talking to my dad." He said, finally. "Don't expect any miracles, but I'll think about it."

"I understand." She said, seriously. "And I'm grateful that you're willing to at least think about it."

Silence lapsed between them for a few more moments.

"What about Janet?" Jack finally whispered.

"What about her?" Sam asked, confused. The doctor had died a few years earlier, and it was surprising that Jack would bring her up without some sort of preamble.

"No, no. For the baby. What about Janet?"

Sam thought for a moment. "I'm sure Janet would have been honored, and she was such a big part of the kids' lives...I like it."

He nodded. "Good."

"Anything else? Maybe as a middle name?"

"I'll need to think some more."

"We have plenty of time." She said with a yawn.

"Tired?" He asked, looking over at her.

"A little." She admitted.

"I didn't mean to keep you up." He said, turning out his bedside lamp.

"It's fine, Jack." She said as she turned out her own lamp. "Really."

"I know." He said, seriously. "But I also know that you need your rest. I want to respect that."

"Thank you." She said, smiling at him in the dark.

She leaned up and gently kissed his lips. "Good night, Jack."

"Good night, Sam." He said as she settled back in beside him.


	6. Getting to School

_Monday Morning (Two days later):_

The alarm buzzed incessantly. Sam opened her eyes unwillingly as she slapped at the offending piece of technology on the nightstand. "Damn." She whispered. "Morning already."

She forced herself up, barely registering that the bed beside her was empty. She stumbled out of bed, barely conscious before she heard little voices whispering.

She shook herself more fully awake. What were the kids doing?

"Sh..." Jack whispered from the boys' room. "You'll wake your mom up."

"Too late." She said, walking into the room.

He looked over. "We were trying to give you some extra time to sleep in." He said with a shrug. "You didn't seem to want to get up this morning."

She chuckled softly. "I didn't really...but it's time to get Grace and Michael ready for school. And that's usually when this house gets turned upside down."

Michael, who was kneeling over an outfit that he had, no doubt, laid down on the floor with every attention to detail, looked up at his mother with a proud grin on his face that looked exactly like the matching grin on his father's face. "I know." He said, excitedly. "I'm getting dressed."

"Good for you." Sam praised. "Now, let me tell your sister..."

She reached for Jacob, who sat on his father's lap, contentedly holding his blanket in his hands. "Michael's going to need a little help putting his clothes on. I can hold Jacob and get Grace ready at the same time."

"Okay." Jack said, nodding as he relinquished his hold on the two-year-old.

As she walked out of the room, she heard Jack's voice. "Hey, Michael...what do you say that you and I make breakfast, huh?"

The five-year-old couldn't contain his enthusiasm, and Sam heard a resounding "YES!" emanate from the bedroom.

She chuckled appreciatively as she walked into her daughter's room. "Time to get up, sleepyhead." She said, turning on the light.

A groan was her only response. "I know; I feel the same way, kiddo." She said, honestly. "But you've got to go to school, and I've got to go to work."

"I hate school." Grace said, burying her head in the pillow.

Sam looked at her daughter in surprise. "What?"

"I hate stinky Trevor Rankin, and I hate stupid Mrs. Murphy."

"Grace, what happened?" Sam asked, sitting on her daughter's bed. "Why don't you like them?"

"Trevor pulled my ponytail at recess, and Mrs. Murphy yelled at me."

"What?" Sam asked, confused. "Tell me everything from the beginning."

"Trevor Rankin was playing tag, and I was going to play on the swings," she began. "And he ran over to me and pulled my ponytail."

"He shouldn't have done that." Sam acknowledged. "What did you do? Did you tell the teacher?"

"No. I hit him in the nose." She said, seriously.

"Grace!" Sam chastised.

"That's what Mrs. Murphy said!" Grace said, burying her head back into the pillow.

"Did she send a note home with you?" Sam asked, looking at her daughter seriously.

"It's in my Take-Home folder." She sighed.

Sam shifted Jacob to the other hip as she reached down for the backpack. "Grace, you're supposed to give me your Take-Home folder when you get home from school."

"I forgot!" She defended. "Besides, Daddy was here."

Sam refrained from rolling her eyes, though she really wanted to do so. "Whether or not your father is here is no excuse for not telling me about getting in trouble at school, young lady."

"Yes, ma'am." Grace said with a heavy sigh.

Jack poked his head into the room. "Anything wrong?"

A fully-dressed and smiling Michael followed.

"Grace didn't give me her Take-Home folder, and she didn't tell me that she'd H-I-T a boy at school." She said, cryptically. She didn't want Michael getting any ideas. "So, I'm wondering just what surprises are in here."

He nodded, understandingly. "Grace, get dressed. Sam, come into the kitchen and look at the Take-Home folder."

"But I don't want to get dressed!" Grace whined.

Jack raised an eyebrow. "I'll be back in five minutes, young lady. You'll be dressed by then." He ordered, firmly.

She sighed loudly, though she stomped over to her dresser and pulled out an outfit.

Jack reached over and pulled Jacob from his mother's arms so that Sam could read the folder with fewer interruptions.

Sam sighed as she pulled out the pink slip. "One day of in-school suspension for fighting," she read.

"Why'd she hit the other kid?" Jack asked as he put Jacob down in the living room with his toys.

"He pulled her ponytail." She said with a sigh. "Whether or not his attack was provoked, I'm not okay with our daughter fighting."

"I agree." He said, seriously. "Do you want to talk to her about it, do you want me to talk to her about it, or do you want us to do it together?"

She looked up in surprise. "Aren't you going back to work?"

"I have a couple of days off."

"And you want to spend them with us on one of the craziest days of the whole week..." She said, skeptically.

"Unless you don't want me here."

"Oh, no," she said, shaking her head. "I could use the help..."

"Then it's settled. I'll be here until Wednesday morning. Unfortunately, I had a meeting that couldn't be rescheduled."

He walked over to the kitchen, went to the refrigerator, and pulled out the eggs. He set the carton on the counter as he walked back to Grace's room. Sam watched him, somewhat fascinated.

"Good. You're dressed." She heard him say. "Now, your mom and I want to talk to you about this fight you were in."

"It wasn't a fight..." Grace whined.

"You hit someone. That's a fight, young lady." Jack answered seriously. "Now, march."

Within a matter of moments, Grace was in the kitchen, looking at both of her parents.

"Grace, this says that you received a day of in-school suspension for your actions." Sam said, referencing the pink paper in front of her.

Grace opened her mouth to answer, but looked up at Jack, and re-thought her plan. She nodded silently, instead.

"What have I told you about hitting, Grace?"

"Not to do it." Grace said with a heavy sigh.

"Is there ever a time when it's okay to hit?"

"When someone who isn't one of my teachers or doesn't use the code word asks me to come with them." She rattled.

"Did you break the rules?"

Grace looked at her mother, and Sam could see the wheels turning in the seven-year-old's mind. Finally, Grace nodded. "Yes."

"And what happens when you break the rules?"

Grace sighed. "I lose a privilege."

"And which one are you going to lose?"

"I don't get to go to school?" She tried, hopefully.

Sam gave her a stern look, and she sighed. "I don't get to go to Tabitha's birthday party."

"That's right." Sam said, nodding. "Now, here's your Take-Home folder. Put it in your backpack, and then set the table for breakfast."

Grace took the folder silently and walked toward her bedroom.

Sam looked up at Jack. "What'd you think?"

"I think she's going to come home and be in a better mood..."

Sam sighed. "I think she has some sixth sense for change."

"What do you mean?" He asked, looking over at her.

"She's never like this - belligerent and acting out." Sam began. "But she's gotten these...episodes...whenever there was some sort of change in the atmosphere."

"Like?"

"Well, when she was two, she started throwing these tantrums. I thought it was that she'd finally hit the terrible twos, but two weeks later, I found out that I was pregnant with Michael. I started showering her with attention - for good behavior, of course - and she stopped instantly. It was the same thing when I decided to move out of the old house and into this one; only she knew about thirty seconds after I did somehow."

"And when you found out you were expecting Jacob?"

"She freaked about three days before. She had just started preschool, and the teacher called me at work. I had to take a day off to pick her up and calm her down. Only this time, Michael had done the same thing a few days before. I figured something was up, and I was right."

"And that's what you think this is?"

She shrugged. "It could be that she has a feeling about the baby, or it could be that she's sensing that you're going to be around more often...I mean, she's lived this long thinking that she just didn't have a father, and yet...here you are."

"I'm ready for school." Grace interrupted, humbly.

Michael bounded in behind her. "When do I fix breakfast, Mom?"

Sam looked at the clock and almost cursed. "I'm sorry, sweetie. I have to get dressed, and then we have to go." She pointed at the pantry. "Jack, can you get some granola bars for the kids?"

"Sam, let me help get the kids to where they need to be." Jack said, seriously. "I'll get Grace and Michael to school, and Jacob can spend the day with me."

"You don't know where the school is..." She began.

"I have GPS."

"Oh." She said, thinking for a moment.

"School probably doesn't start until nine, and it's only seven-thirty."

"They have to get there before I need to be at work." She began.

"If you were alone, that would be true." He reiterated.

"Please..." Grace and Michael begged in unison, chiming in with their father's plea.

She chuckled softly. "I can't fight that puppy dog face on multiple fronts. Fine. You can go to school with your dad."

A loud, joyful chorus erupted, and Sam chuckled. "All right...I'm getting ready for work."

"Have fun." Jack grinned.

"You too." She said, somewhat amused as she returned to the bedroom to get ready for work.

As she left, she heard Jack's voice. "KP crew, assemble." He commanded in his best commander voice.

"What's KP?" Grace asked, curiously.

"Kitchen crew, soldier." He said, gruffly. "Now. We have pancakes on the morning meal. That means we have three tasks which must be divided between the three of you."

"One for each of us." Michael said with a grin.

"You better believe it soldier." Jack continued.

Sam paused just in front of her door so that she could hear the balance of the activity.

"We need a soldier who is tall enough to use the big spoon and stir that pancake batter." He said, solemnly.

"I can do it! I'm the tallest!" Grace cried.

"Michael? Jacob? Do you wish to protest?"

"I wanted to stir." Michael whined.

"How about you crack the eggs?" Jack said, losing his gruffness for a moment.

"Is that the first job?" Michael asked, curiously.

"Yep." Jack said, returning to his character.

He grinned. "Yes, sir."

"Finally, we have the most important job of all." Jack said, gravely. "We need a taste tester who can supervise all of the work in the kitchen."

There was silence for a moment before the kids and Jack all laughed. "Jacob, you're right. You're perfect."

Sam chuckled as she walked into her bedroom. She had nothing to worry about. Jack was their father; he would take great care of them while she was at work today.


	7. Calling

The phone on the wall in Sam's lab rang, and she picked it up mindlessly. "Carter."

"Colonel," General Landry greeted. "I have a visitor for you in the briefing room. He said that you'd made an agreement that if he "called first", you would help him?"

Sam nodded in understanding. "Yes, sir. Tell Thor I'll be right up."

"He wants to beam you from your lab."

"Oh." She said, surprised. "I...I guess that's okay."

"I'll forward your message." He said, hanging up.

A moment later, Sam found herself aboard the Asgard ship again. "Hi, Thor." She said with a slight smile.

"I hope I did not inconvenience you." He said, earnestly.

"No, it's okay." She said, shaking her head. "I just hadn't had time to explain everything to General Landry."

"It is all right. I have explained the situation to him." Thor said, seriously.

Her eyes widened. "What exactly did you tell him?"

"That our rogue scientist interfered in the affairs of nature, and that you have been carrying O'Neill's children for eight years."

She managed an uncomfortable smile. "Excellent..."

"Have I done something wrong?" He asked, curiously.

"No, Thor." She said, shaking her head as she tried to take her own advice from Friday night. "We'll straighten it out."

"Very well," he said, nodding. "May we begin?"

"Yes." She said, nodding.


	8. Old Friends

Sam was returned to her lab nearly three hours later. Even though she'd just sat through their scans and their questions, she was exhausted.

She stretched her back gently. She probably needed to check in with the General and let him know that she was back. She looked at the computer as she bit the inside of her cheek. She wasn't on a front-line team anymore. He probably would be okay with a simple email. She shook her head. He would want a report of what the Asgard had subjected her to.

She sighed before walking out of her lab toward the elevator. She pressed the button and waited for a moment before the steel doors opened for her. She stepped inside, and pressed the button for Level 27.

"Wait! Hold the elevator!" Came a familiar cry.

She smiled softly as she pressed the "open door" button for Daniel. He hurried inside, his glasses askew.

"Thanks." He said, returning his eyes to his notes.

"You're welcome, Daniel." Sam said with a chuckle.

He looked up in surprise. "Sam!"

"Hi." She said with a tired smile.

"You look terrible. You okay?" He asked, seriously.

"I'm fine, but seriously wondering if I should ever call you up when I'm not feeling well..." Sam chuckled.

"Sorry." He said with a sheepish grin. "I just meant that you looked tired."

"I am tired." She said, nodding.

"Oh? Why?"

"Because the Asgard called..."

"What happened?" He asked as the steel doors opened again.

"They ran the tests they wanted to run on Friday. It was just three hours of boredom that somehow wore me out."

He chuckled appreciatively as they walked up to the briefing room.

"Colonel Carter." Landry said with a small smile. "Nice of you to grace us with your presence."

She blushed. "I'm sorry, sir. Thor said he explained everything?"

"Yes, he did."

"If you have any questions, I'd be more than happy to answer whichever ones I know the answers to."

"I'll keep that in mind." He said, seriously. "But I am glad that you came up. I have something I want you and Dr. Jackson to look at."

"Of course, sir." She said as they followed him down to the Gate room.

"We received this message. Chief Master Sgt. Harriman says that you might recognize who it came from."

She raised her eyebrows. "Me, sir?"

He nodded as the gate technician pulled up the text body that had been sent through the gate.

_Greetings, Stargate Command. It is most urgent that I speak with SG-1 regarding a danger which I have discovered among my travels. Please send one of your drones through to verify my identity. Many thanks in advance, Narim of the Tollan._

Sam gasped.

"You know who this Narim is?"

"I thought he was dead." She said, seriously. "Permission to send a MALP, sir?"

"No. Not yet. Who is this?"

"The Tollans were a race of beings who were very advanced in their understanding of science and technology. We met them in the first year of the program."

"Yeah." Daniel agreed. "They actually ran into a problem with the Goa'uld. In exchange for their freedom, they agreed to lure us to their planet and hand us over as hostages."

"In fairness, Narim didn't know about the plot and aided us in getting out of harm's way." Sam said, defensively.

"Still..." Daniel said, biting his lip in curiosity. "We haven't heard from him in six or seven years as far as I know..."

"And we don't know how or if he survived, sir." Sam said, inhaling. "Which is why I think we should send a MALP. They were a great ally."

"We can send a MALP. I need more information before I can make a decision either way."

Sam and Daniel nodded soberly. "Yes, sir."


	9. Bad Guys

Cam Mitchell walked into the Control Room as a MALP was being assembled for its journey through the Stargate. "So, Carter, I hear you have an ex-boyfriend who decided to contact you out of the blue."

Sam stiffened. "He and I...we never..."

"Right." Cam said, noticing her discomfort with the topic.

Sgt. Siler turned around and gave Sam a thumb's up. "The MALP is operational."

Sam nodded as she turned her attention to the computer screen. She input the coordinates of the address from which the message had been received. The Gate began to dial the planet, and Sam opened the iris. A moment after the shimmering blue water facade appeared, she remotely guided the MALP through the Gate.

"Receiving video telemetry, sir." Sam said, seriously. "Putting it on the screen now, sir."

The MALP's camera showed several deciduous trees as well as a small clearing where a small village seemed to be located.

Sam's brow furrowed as she commanded the camera to rotate slowly. Suddenly, she came upon the image that made her gasp.

"Narim." Daniel whispered before she could do so.

The man had gray at his temples, a sign that he was nearly ten years older than he had been the last time they had seen him. The lines at the corners of his eyes were deeper and more pronounced, but his smile still lit up his face. "I was afraid that you would not send the device." He admitted.

"We thought your message necessitated some sort of follow-up." The General said, seriously.

"I do not recognize your voice." Narim said, seemingly troubled.

"I am General Hank Landry, commander of Stargate Command."

"It is an honor to hear from you, General. I am Narim, of the Tollan. Is Major Carter with you?"

"Actually, it's Colonel Carter now." Sam answered.

"Samantha, it is good to hear your voice again." He said with a tender smile.

"What happened, Narim? We thought you were dead." Daniel interrupted before she had a chance to respond.

"The Tollan homeworld was attacked by the Goa'uld." He said, nodding.

"How did you escape?"

"I found one of their smaller aircraft and flew myself to the nearest planet with a Stargate." He sighed. "Unfortunately, there was no answer when I tried to contact my people using the Stargate, and when I flew over the planet, I found utter destruction." His features were schooled into those of sadness. "I believe that I am the last surviving member of my race."

Sam inhaled sharply as she listened to his tale.

General Landry looked at Sam, Daniel, Vala, Cam and Teal'c who had joined them. Daniel shrugged and Teal'c was expressionless, but Sam's face held genuine confusion. "I don't know, sir." She whispered, turning back to him so that the microphone wouldn't pick up her voice.

General Landry nodded. "Narim, we're going to have to take a little while to think about this. We'll contact you again when we've made our decision."

"Wait." Narim said, seriously. "I haven't told you of the danger."

Sam bit the inside of her cheek as she looked up at the General.

"All right." He finally allowed. "What is it?"

"In an effort to overcome Ba'al's stronghold in the galaxy, there is a goa'uld underloard, who has taken an Ori Prior as host." His face was grave. "And they are headed to Earth."


	10. Say What?

An hour later, Sam was sitting in her lab, analyzing some of the data from Merlin's device which sat on her desk. The _Odyssey's_ ZPM was sitting a few inches away.

The phone ran, and Sam reached for it. "Carter." She said, absently.

"Sam, I've been trying to call you for two hours." Jack said, seriously. "What's going on?"

She stepped away from her laptop. "Sorry, Jack. It's been crazy around here. First of all, Thor called - he wanted to do that check-up thing that we cancelled on him."

"Oh. Is that all?" He asked, curiously.

"No, it's not." She said, biting her lip. Jack wouldn't want to hear her next pieces of news.

"All right..."

She opened her mouth to speak before Jack came back on. "Sam, I've got to call you back. Hank Landry's calling."

"Okay..." She said as he hung up. She inhaled sharply.

Daniel walked into her lab. "Hey."

"Hi." She said, biting her lip.

"Something wrong?"

She shook her head. "No. I just...Dr. Lee's out of town. He and I worked on this, but he's the only one who has actually made it work. You know, in the alternate reality."

Daniel nodded for a moment. "Sam, Landry wants us to go to the planet and meet with Narim. He wants Jack there too."

She raised an eyebrow. "What?"

"He says that the original SG-1 needs to meet with Narim and figure out whether or not he's the real McCoy while SG teams 4 and 16 check on his intel."

Sam sighed. "Great..."

Just then, the phone rang again. She grimaced before answering it. "Carter."

"Why didn't you tell me that Narim wants to see SG-1?" Jack asked without a preamble.

"Because you hung up before I could..." Sam said, seriously.

"Isn't he dead?"

"He seems to be who he says he is, but that's why General Landry wants us to go."

"What am I supposed to do with Jacob?"

"Just take him to daycare."

"And go to another planet..." Jack finished.

"Well, it's either that or take him with us. And we can't very well do that." Sam snapped.

"Right. Where's the daycare place?"

She rattled off the directions before he hung up. She looked back at Daniel. "He's not happy."

Daniel shrugged, helplessly.


	11. Orders

Jack arrived a half-hour later, dressed in his Air Force blues. "Hey, guys...miss me?" He asked with a cheeky grin.

"More than we could ever tell." Daniel said, absently.

"Jack! Thanks for coming!" Landry said, walking into the briefing room.

"No problem. I was visiting the area anyway."

Sam felt her face flush as Landry turned his eye to her for a moment before addressing the other general in the room. "Of course you were."

Thor! She cursed in her head.

"So...one of Carter's old boyfriends decided to call after so many years..."

"He was never my boyfriend, sir." Sam said through gritted teeth.

"Oh...right...that was Martouf."

She closed her eyes as she took a deep breath. Jealous Jack could be quite nasty.

"Actually, he did have some pretty valuable intel about some rogue Ori prior who wasn't affected by the Ark and some Goa'uld underlord named Zipacna." Cam said, seriously.

"Zipacna?" Jack asked with his brow furrowed. "Wasn't he the one who took over the Tollan homeworld for Anubis?"

Daniel nodded. "It's possible that since we thought the Tollan were wiped out, and since we got rid of Anubis, that Zipacna has run around free."

"Right..." Jack said with a sigh. "Still," he continued, turning his attention to Landry. "I'm not sure that this isn't just a ploy to see Carter again."

"What makes you say that, Jack?" Landry asked, trying to suppress the feeling that Jack was jealous of this Narim fellow.

"Well, the last time we saw him, he had his house rigged with Carter's voice greeting him every time he walked in."

"It was kind of creepy..." Sam said with a faltering smile.

"Anyway, I don't think it would be wise for Carter to join this mission."

"Sir!" She protested.

"Carter, the idea is to get an accurate reading on if this guy is the real deal. We can't do that with your personal feelings."

Sam bit the insides of her cheeks as she pursed her lips. "With...all...due...respect...sir," She began, trying to calm herself. "That's exactly why you should let me go."

Landry looked at her questioningly.

"Look, Narim and I never actually dated, but he said that he had...feelings...for me, and I think we can use that to our advantage."

"Like Fifth?" Jack asked, pointedly.

Sam inhaled sharply before feeling as defensive as she had been when they had first met. "My point is...that I think it's important for me to go. I will take every possible precaution to ensure my safety, and if I suspect at any time that Narim is not who he says he is, I will return through the Stargate."

"I'm sorry, Colonel, but I agree with General O'Neill. It's too risky." Landry said, after a moment of thought.

"Yes, sir." Sam said with a sigh after a moment's hesitation.


	12. Keep It Professional

Sam sat in the control room as Jack, Daniel, Teal'c, Vala and Cam prepared to go through the next wormhole.

"Good luck, SG-1." Landry said as the wormhole engaged.

"Thank you, sir." Cam called back.

"Let's go, people." Jack said, signaling their departure.

They stepped through the Gate, and almost immediately, the wormhole disengaged. Sam looked up at the General. "I think I'm going to go back to my lab and run a few more simulations on how well the ZPM will work as a power source for Merlin's device.

"Colonel?" Landry said, stopping her in her tracks.

"Yes, sir?" She asked, turning around.

"May I see you in my office?"

She bit the inside of her cheek before she nodded. "Yes, sir."

--

They walked into his office, and he closed the door. "Colonel, I understand that you are in a very confusing place right now."

She gave him a strange look. "Sir?"

"Since Thor came to my office this morning, I called General Hammond."

She swallowed. "Really?"

He nodded. "Have a seat."

She inhaled as she sat. "I'm sorry, sir. I..."

"I understand, Colonel. Having your family classified by the President would be hard for anyone."

She managed an uncomfortable smile. "Yes, sir. It was."

"Colonel, I hope you realize that I don't really care what relationship you and Jack share right now."

"You don't, sir?"

"As I said, it's confusing." He said, seriously.

"Right."

"That aside, there are going to be people who are skeptical about the Asgard's involvement. Especially if they witness a scene like the one in the briefing room."

She grimaced. "I'm sorry, sir."

"Just promise that it won't happen again."

"It won't happen again." Sam promised.

"Excellent." He said with a paternal smile. "Now...don't you have Merlin's weapon to research?"

"Yes, sir." Sam said, standing again. With a snappy salute, she was back out the door.

Jack, she groaned inwardly.


	13. Narim

Jack looked around the clearing near the Stargate. "Looks like there's...no one home..." He said, looking over at Daniel and Vala.

"Jack, that was out of line." Daniel said after a moment.

"Saying that there's no one home is out of line? I think that's stating the obvious, but not out of line." Jack said, seriously.

"I meant with Sam back there."

"Danny, mind your own business."

"Jack, she may be right."

"And if something goes wrong?" Jack asked, looking back at his friend.

"I didn't say it was the best plan, but you were antagonizing her."

"And why do I do that, Danny?"

"I don't know."

"No, Danny. Think about it. Why would I do that to someone whom I respect and admire, huh?"

"To get them angry at you?" Daniel asked, shrugging. "I don't know what goes on in that convoluted skull of yours..."

"I did it to protect her!" He finally yelled.

Daniel studied Jack for a moment. "Keep her from ever knowing whether or not Narim is who he says he is?"

"Keep her from getting herself into trouble..." Jack corrected.

"Keep her from knowing what it's like to lose a child..." Daniel continued.

Jack inhaled as he turned. "Where are Cam and Teal'c? It's been a half-hour. Aren't they finished yet?"

Cam and Teal'c returned from scouting the area nearby. "There's no one in the village, sir."

"No one, ya say?" He said, mockingly surprised. He turned to Teal'c. "How sure were you that this guy was Narim?"

"I was not." Teal'c said as one eyebrow raised in seriousness.

"Look, Jack, I'm telling you. It looked like him to Sam and me." Daniel protested.

"And yet..." He said, gesturing to the empty woods around him. "If there isn't something fishy going on..."

"Colonel O'Neill."

Jack turned around in surprise as a group of people walked toward him, led by Narim.

"Hey." He said, forcing a smile. "I thought you were going to send a welcome party."

"My apologies." He said with an amused smile. "Where is Colonel Carter?"

"She's busy." Jack said, seriously.

His eyes flashed angrily. "I specifically asked for the original SG-1." He said, eyes glowing.


	14. School

A small beeping sound caught Sam's attention, and she looked at her watch. It was nearly time to pick Grace and Michael up from school.

She sighed as she tried to refrain from wishing for the days when she could stay up all night long, trying to find an answer for the galactic emergency.

"Lieutenant Johnson," she said, pulling the scientist into her office. "Do you know when Dr. Lee will be getting back?"

"Sometime tomorrow, Ma'am." He said, seriously.

"You wouldn't have any contact information for him, would you? He's not answering his pager."

"He left a contact sheet in his lab."

"Great. Thank you." She said, giving the Lieutenant a smile. "You're dismissed."

"Thank you, ma'am." He said, turning on his heel.

She walked down a few doors to Lee's lab. "Contact...infor...mation..." She muttered to herself.

"Ha!" She cried, triumphantly as she found it.

She quickly located the cellular phone number and dialed it.

There was no answer.

"Colonel Carter? What are you doing in my lab?" A familiar tenor voice asked, confused.

She jumped as she turned around. "Bill."

"Yes?"

"Excellent timing." She said, leading him down the corridor. "I need you to look at these simulations. Let me know if everything checks out. If they do, tell Landry we have a go."

"Excuse me?"

"And why didn't you answer your pager?"

"I was flying..." He defended.

"Right. Well...it's all there, but I have to go get the kids..." She said, slipping her lab coat off and her pea coat on.

--

Sam arrived at the elementary school as the principal was headed inside from the driving rush.

"Colonel Carter." The woman greeted warmly.

"Mrs. Hannigan." Sam said with a smile. "I think I may have missed my kids. Do you know where they are?"

"Probably in adventure club."

"Damn." Sam cursed under her breath.

Mrs. Hannigan raised a sharply manicured brow, and Sam closed her eyes in frustration. "I'll park and be right there."

Sam turned the key, but looked over to see Mrs. Hannigan leaning in the window. "Colonel Carter, I tried to reach you earlier, but you were unavailable. I think we need to talk."

Sam managed a faltering smile. "I'll park..." She said, waving toward the parking spaces.

--

She walked into the principal's office. "What is it?"

"First of all, Colonel, we understand that a lot of things change in a single parent's life. Especially when they're raising three children and working full-time in such a...high-risk...field." She said, tactfully.

Sam nodded as she groaned inwardly.

"Still, we like to keep an eye on our students for any...sudden changes in behavior."

Sam bit the inside of her cheek. Grace's suspension. "I'm sorry, Mrs. Hannigan. I've spoken to Grace about her behavior, and told her in no uncertain terms that she was out of line. Still, I'll have another chat with her."

"No, no." Mrs. Hannigan said, shaking her head. "I mean, that's a concern to be sure, but there's something else that worries me."

Sam's brow furrowed as Mrs. Hannigan handed her a piece of paper that had been colored with crayon. "Michael drew this in his kindergarten class. The teacher was understandably worried."

Sam's heart stopped for a moment as she realized that there was a picture of Jack, Daniel, Teal'c, Vala, and Cam. They were in prison. Nearby, obviously out of prison, stood a man who looked remarkably like Narim. And his eyes were yellow.

"It's not uncommon for children to feel insecure during periods of change." Mrs. Hannigan continued. "Perhaps, if your family could come in to see the school counselor?"

Sam looked up. "What? Oh. Yeah...school counselor. I'll...make an appointment." The military part of her personality took over as she turned to the principal. "Now, where are my kids?"


	15. Daniel

Jack's first awareness was of the throbbing in his head. "Agh..." He groaned, touching his head.

He slowly sat up against the bars of the cell. "That hurts more than I remembered..." He said, finally opening his eyes.

"That's because it was an Ori stun weapon." Daniel said with his legs bent so that his knees were at chin height. He had placed his elbows on his knees and rested his head in his hands.

"The Ori have zats too?" Jack asked, curiously.

"Yes. Only they hurt much worse." Daniel said, seriously. "I would imagine that's why this goa'uld used them instead of just a regular zatnik'tel."

"Right..."

Vala groaned. "I don't want to sound like I'm being unsupportive..."

"Then don't." Daniel said, seriously.

"I was just going to say that I am not sure that a MALP was the best way to "affirm" that we were speaking to your friend." Vala continued.

"Which sounds entirely unsupportive and unnecessary right now." Cam said from where he had been brooding in a corner.

The sound of footsteps forced Jack to his feet.

Narim walked into the room, accompanied by two Jaffa. "Tauri." He spat with his gravelly voice. "You will come with me." He said, pointing to Daniel.

"Uh...no." Jack said, belligerently.

The goa'uld used his hand device to deliver a powerful energy blast to Jack, causing him to fly back and hit the wall. He crumpled to the ground, unconsciously.

The goa'uld looked at Daniel again. "Come."


	16. Michael

Sam walked Grace and Michael to the car. On any other day, her kids would have been chattering away about what was going on in their lives. Right now, however, they were silent as they sensed the gravity of their mother's countenance.

She helped them into the SUV as her mind went a thousand miles in every direction. Did Michael have some Ancient psychic power? Did Grace have some hidden power given to her by her Ancient gene? What about Jacob? What about the daughter she carried within her?

She got into the driver's seat of the car, and looked back at her kids. She didn't know what to say to them.

"Mommy, it's okay." Michael said, seriously. "It doesn't happen very often."

"What doesn't happen very often?" She asked, unsure that her son was referring to his psychic episode.

"Usually when I think about Daddy I see papers. This time, I saw the picture I drew."

Sam was silently trying to process the information he'd just given her.

"Did I do a bad thing, Mommy?" He asked as his lip trembled.

She looked back at him, instantly aware of her son again. "Oh, honey, no." She said, shaking her head. "You've done a very good thing. Mommy's just trying to figure out what to do with it."

"Okay." He said as the tears which had threatened to fall simply dried.

"Why don't we go get Jacob?" She asked after a moment.

She drove out of the parking lot as a plan began to form in her mind.


	17. Ancients

"O'Neill..."

Jack's mind was hazy. Probably had a concussion, he thought to himself.

He tried to move, and his head began to throb more intensely.

"Definitely a concussion."

"You are injured, O'Neill." Teal'c said from beside his friend.

"Where's Daniel?"

"He's still in interrogation." Vala said, listlessly.

Jack sighed. "What's the plan, Mitchell?"

"I'm not sure, sir."

"Not good enough. Come up with a plan." He said, wincing.

"Yes, sir."

Finally, the two Jaffa dragged a limp Daniel into their cell.

"Daniel!" Vala cried as she scurried over to help him.

"How's Jack?" Daniel murmured.

"Surviving, Danny." Jack managed. "And you?"

"Oh, I've been better..." He admitted with a grimace.

"What did they want?" Vala asked a moment later. "I mean, they have to know that the Ori aren't gods. In fact, they don't even exist anymore."

"They wanted to know why Sam wasn't here." Daniel said, clutching his head.

"What? Why?"

There were footsteps as the goa'uld hosting prior came over to them. "Because the Ancients threaten to defeat us."


	18. The Plan

Sam set her three kids up in one of the rec rooms with three SFs inside the room and two guarding the outside. She hurried to the Control room.

"General Landry." Sam said, urgently.

He turned. "Colonel?"

"I have a possible source of intelligence." She said, inhaling sharply.

His eyebrows shot up. "Continue, Colonel."

"I have reason to believe that General O'Neill and SG-1 have been captured by a goa'uld."

He looked at her skeptically. "And how did you get this intelligence?"

She sighed. "I...would prefer not to say, sir."

"That's not really an option, Colonel." He said, seriously.

She handed him the drawing.

"What am I looking at?"

"A drawing that my son made while he was at school. He says he was thinking about General O'Neill when it came to him."

The General looked at her curiously.

She looked around the room with a wary eye. "I believe my son may have some psychic powers because of the Ancient gene."

--

Sam walked into the recreation room, followed by the General.

"Michael?"

He looked up. "Yes, Mommy?"

"Come here." She said, inviting him to the small sitting area.

"Okay." He said, nodding.

"Can you think about General O'Neill again?"

He looked at her, confused.

"Daddy." She said, praying that the SFs would be as discreet about the information as General Landry had been.

"Oh." He said, nodding. "Sure."

He closed his eyes for a moment. His brow furrowed peroidically. With a tiny yelp, his eyes opened.

"Michael?" Sam asked, fear pounding in her heart. What had she done by exposing his powers?

With a trembling hand, he drew a picture of the same cell where Jack and SG-1 were being kept in the last picture, but this time, Jack was slumped against the wall and Daniel was lying in the center of the cell with Vala knelt over him.

The goa'uld-prior was outside of the cell, and Michael drew a thought-bubble above his head. Inside it, he drew pictures of his mother, sister, brother and self.

He looked at his mother with tears of terror running down his face. "He wants to get us, Mommy."

She hugged him tightly to her as she looked at the General. "Please..." She whispered as tears slipped down her own cheeks.

She couldn't say anymore than that, but he understood her plea to be the myriad of things that were running through her mind. Protect her children, rescue her team, and above all, save the planet.

--

"Colonel, do you still have the stone that Thor gave you?" General Landry asked as they approached the briefing room.

"Yes, sir." She said, nodding.

"I want to see if he can be your backup."

"Backup, sir?"

"Yes. I will send a team with you and an anti-prior device, but I think you'll need your son's abilities."

She paled. "Sir..."

"I don't like it any more than you do." He said, seriously. "But a quick extraction is what we want."

"What we want is to eliminate the threat to Earth." She said, seriously.

"And Dr. Lee is working on Merlin's device."

Sam sighed. "Sir..."

"Colonel, your first priority is to get SG-1 and General O'Neill out of there. Anything more than that needs to be accomplished as you are getting them out."

"Yes, sir." She said with a sigh.

--

Thor beamed Sam and her kids up to the bridge of his ship. Grace and Michael were holding hands with their eyes firmly shut, and Sam held Jacob in her arms as he squeezed his arms around her neck in apprehension. "Colonel Carter." He greeted, soberly.

"Hi, Thor." She said, wearily.

"I have designed a room on the ship where your children will be able to have the stimulation which they require." He said, guiding her to a small room.

There were bright colored lights alternating around the room and odd shaped objects lying on the floor.

Jacob squirmed to be let out of his mother's arms, and she set him down. All of the kids went and played with the shapes while Thor motioned for Sam to follow him.

"The ship's sensors will monitor their activity. You may watch it on this screen if you so desire."

"Thank you." Sam said as she nodded. "I would like to see them."

The Asgard quickly turned the screen on, and Sam breathed a sigh of relief.

"This stimulation will bring to the surface any dormant Ancient powers that your children may have." Thor said, looking at her.

She inhaled sharply. "Are they going to be all right?"

"They will be fine." He assured. "Their physiology is more advanced than that of yours or O'Neill's."

Sam's face still betrayed her discomfort.

"Colonel Carter, I will protect them with my life." He said, seriously.

"Thank you, Thor." She said, gratefully. "But I hope it won't come to that."


	19. Jack

"Daniel, did you get any sense of where we are?" Cam asked, looking at the archaeologist.

"We're on an Ori ship." Daniel said, still drained from his interrogation.

"How do we get off?"

"Well, each Ori ship has a Stargate..." Vala said, helpfully.

"So, we get out of here and get to the Gate..." Jack said with his eyes closed.

"How do we get out of here?" Daniel asked, leaning his head against the wall. "For that matter, how do we know we're close enough to a planet we can use as a point of origin?"

"We have to try, Daniel."

"We only have one shot at this, Jack." Daniel said, seriously. "We need to know exactly what the conditions are before we can even attempt anything."

The Goa'uld-Prior returned with the two Jaffa. "You. Come with me." He said, pointing to Jack.

"Oh, here we go." Jack said, standing. "NOW it's my turn to talk to our good friend, Zippy."

"Silence." He said, waving his hand.

Jack tried to speak, but there was no sound.

"Much better." He said as the Jaffa dragged the speechless Jack behind them.

"Okay," Vala began once they were out of earshot. "This is bad."


	20. Abilities

"The ship's computer detects psychic energy coming from your son, Michael." Thor announced. "Perhaps he has more information for us."

Sam swallowed as she nodded.

They walked into the small room to find Michael using a small console as his drawing pad. On the screen above him, Sam could see Jack on his knees in front of a Prior who had glowing eyes.

She felt a surge of anger rip through her from her heart to her finger tips. The objects in front of her were suddenly slammed against the wall opposite her. She felt dizzy and nauseous as she sank to the ground.

"Colonel Carter!" Thor said, hurrying over to her.

"I'm fine, Thor." She said, touching her head.

"I believe the fetus is using you as a conduit for her own telekinetic powers." He said, seriously. "I had not considered this possibility."

She rested the back of her head on the wall behind her as she closed her eyes.

Jacob toddled over to her and sat on her lap. He rested his cheek on her breast as he hugged her gently. She smiled as she placed her own arms around him.

A warm feeling enveloped her, and she felt her exhaustion evaporate. She opened her eyes and stared at her toddler. He gave her a proud smile before he curled up on her chest and fell asleep as one fist clenched his blanket.

Sam looked over at Grace. She was quiet as she watched her brothers and mother utilize their powers. Sam saw her turn in shame as she wondered if she would ever get any powers.

Sam wondered how she could adequately console her daughter if it was indeed true that she had no Ancient powers.

Jack, where are you? She thought to herself.

--

Forty-five minutes passed, and Sam stood on the bridge with Thor.

"We have arrived at the coordinates which you gave me." He said, looking over at her.

"Can you scan the surface for any life signs?"

Thor nodded and did so quickly. "I am afraid to report that they are not on the planet."

She sighed. "I thought that might be the case. Are there any ships nearby?"

Thor scanned the area before looking over at her. "There is an Ori ship on the other side of the planet's moon."

"Are you sure?" Sam asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Quite." He said, nodding.

"Can you scan for lifesigns there?"

"Of course." He said, quickly asking the computer to carry out her request.

A map appeared on screen. "Any goa'uld presence will be symbolized by a red circle. A purely human presence will be represented by a blue circle."

She looked at the map. "They're being held here." She said, pointing to a place on the map that had four blue circles. "One of them is missing, though."

"Perhaps O'Neill is the one being interrogated at the time." Thor said after a moment.

"We've got to get in there." Sam said, seriously. "I've got to distract them..."

"Take this." Thor said, handing her a stone. "Perhaps your hologram self will distract them while I try to access the computer's systems and free the others."

"All right." She said, nodding.


	21. Rescue

"Colonel O'Neill..." The Prior-Goa'uld said as the Jaffa forced him to his knees.

"Actually...it says "general" on my uniform." Jack said, cheekily. His tongue had been loosened almost immediately upon his arrival in the interrogation chamber.

"I'll remember that as I torture you for information." Zipacna retorted. "Now...why was Colonel Carter unable to join you?"

"Who? Me?" Sam asked with a smile as appeared by hologram.

"Sam, what the hell are you doing here?" Jack asked, angrily.

"Saving your ass, sir." She said, cheekily.

"Colonel Carter..." Zipacna said, hatred in his eyes as he raised his Prior staff. "Welcome."

He picked up his staff and hit it forcefully on the ground.

"Ooh...scary..." She said, shaking her hands mockingly.

Suddenly, Sam's facade dropped. "Grace? Grace, what are you doing? Thor, stop her!"

"Grace? You brought Grace?" Jack yelled at her.

Zipacna opened his hand, preparing to attack Jack with a powerful blast of energy.

The anger that Sam had felt before welled up within her again. She closed her eyes before she used her mind to try to channel the blast that would come from her child. She raised her hands as she opened her eyes. She centered the blast on the Prior. He was caught off guard and slammed against the opposite wall as Cam and Teal'c hurried in.

Within a moment, Teal'c had rendered both Jaffa unconscious. Sam looked over to find Cam clutching Narim's forearm as he was caught in the grip of the hand device.

"Thor! Beam them up!" Sam cried behind her as she leaned on the console in front of her, trying to gain her strength.

She slid to the ground, leaning against the console for support as the hologram was turned off and the members of SG-1 were beamed aboard.

The hand device in Narim's hand shut off instantly as a result of the goa'uld device jamming technology which Thor had built into his ship since his last encounter with Anubis.

Narim looked up in surprise. His eyes glowed. "What trickery is this?" He demanded.

Teal'c pinned his arms behind his back.

"There is a holding cell down the corridor to the left. The door will be open, and it will close once the prisoner is inside." Thor said, seriously.

Teal'c nodded in acknowledgment as he left, dragging the goa'uld with him.

"You got into the ship's systems." Sam said, giving Thor a weak smile.

"It was not I, Colonel Carter," Thor admitted. "But Grace, who opened the doors."

"What?" Sam asked, confused.

"Uh...Thor..." Cam said upon his recovery from the hand device torture. He pointed to the ship's sensors which were turning red.

"What is it?" Daniel asked from where he leaned against Vala for his own support.

"The ship is preparing to fire upon us. Raising shields to maximum." Thor said as the first beam came toward them.

"Preparing counter attack." Thor said after raising the shields. With one beam from the Asgard weapons, the ship was destroyed.

"That's it?" Jack asked, feeling the toll of the ordeal on his body.

"We can only hope that by destroying the Prior, we have destroyed his plan." Thor said, seriously.

"And if we haven't, we'll know once the Tok'ra remove Narim's symbiote." Sam said with equal sobriety.

Grace walked over to her mother. "I found my powers, Mom!"

Sam gave her daughter a tired smile. "That's wonderful. What did you do?"

"She accessed the ship's computer with her mind and sent her own hologram to the cell where SG-1 was being kept."

"Then, she opened the metal door through the hologram." Vala finished. "It was very impressive."

Sam smiled as she hugged her daughter. "I'm very proud of you, sweetheart." She said, leaning the back of her head against the console as she had before.

"I also opened the door to our room." She said, proudly.

A moment later, Michael looked around the corner, worriedly.

"Come here, Michael." Sam invited. "It's okay. We did it!"

He smiled, cautiously before he saw Jack. His face broke into an ear-splitting grin. "Daddy!" He cried, running toward Jack.

"Careful!" Sam warned. Jack was looking less and less healthy as the mission progressed.

Michael slowed his pace considerably and offered Jack a light hug.

"Grace..." Sam said, letting go of her daughter. "Give me a minute, okay?"

Grace let go as Jacob toddled in behind his brother. He looked between his father and Daniel, both of whom needed the healing that he could provide.

Sam stood, wanting to protect her young son from the effects of using his healing powers; he'd fallen asleep as his own body struggled to deal with the added energy of healing another. "Thor, how about your medical pods? I think Jack and Daniel could use them..."

"Of course." Thor said, nodding his head.

Within moments, Daniel and Jack were beamed into medical pods where they rested.

Sam picked the startled Jacob up, and he snuggled close to her. She felt her strength return slowly and she kissed the top of her sleeping toddler's head.

"Daniel's injuries will heal quickly." Thor said, seriously. "But O'Neill may need to remain in the pod until we return to Earth. He has been badly injured."

"That's okay, Thor. As long as he makes it." Sam said, choking on her emotion.

"I will do all that I can to ensure O'Neill's survival." Thor assured.

"Thank you." She mouthed, soundlessly, as tears welled up in her eyes.


	22. Home Safe?

SG-1, General O'Neill, Colonel Carter, Grace, Michael, and Jacob were beamed to the briefing room a little more than an hour later while Narim was beamed to one of the high security cells.

"SG-1," General Landry greeted as he left his office. "I assume you were successful."

"Yes, sir." Sam said, sitting down in one of the briefing room chairs.

Jack reached over and took Jacob from her wordlessly.

She gave him a small smile of gratitude before she turned to the General. "SG-1 was rescued, and we believe that the Zipacna Prior was destroyed when we blew up his ship. We also believe that as a result, we have successfully eliminated the threat against Earth."

"We have also captured Narim. He was a goa'uld, sir." Daniel reported.

"Perhaps we could ask the Tok'ra to remove the symbiote from his body." Vala suggested.

"Well done and noted, SG-1." Landry said, earnestly. "Take a few well-deserved days off. Report back here at 0800 Monday morning. We'll debrief after you have submitted your reports."

The team nodded, tiredly.

"Hey, guys, dinner at my house tomorrow night?" Sam asked, looking at the team. "You know...to celebrate everyone's safe return?"

"I'd love to." Vala said with a grin.

"That sounds wonderful." Daniel admitted.

"I'm in." Cam chimed in.

"As am I." Teal'c nodded.

"I'll be here until Wednesday morning, like I said." Jack said, nodding in agreement.

"Excellent." Sam said, standing.

She took a step forward, pausing momentarily.

"Carter? Something wrong?" Jack asked, worriedly.

"No..." She said, shaking her head as she took another step.

Almost instantly, her knees buckled and she crumpled to the ground.

Landry, who had only made it to his doorway, turned to Chief Master Sgt. Harriman. "Call the infirmary. Have them send a med team to the briefing room."

--

"Is Mom going to be okay?" Grace asked for what seemed to be the hundredth time.

Michael closed his eyes as he leaned his head on the back of the chair. "I told you already. She's going to be fine. She's just tired."

"You're not a doctor." She snapped.

"Yeah...so?" Michael retorted.

"Kids." Jack snapped.

They were instantly silent.

Dr. Lam walked out to where the group waited. Grace ran up to her before she had a chance to say a word. "Is my mom going to be okay?"

Carolyn Lam looked down at the young girl before looking up at the adults who were wondering the same thing. "She's going to be fine." She said, nodding. "She's just tired."

Michael grinned triumphantly at his sister who rolled her eyes as Dr. Lam looked up at the adults. "Using the baby's Ancient powers took a toll on them both, but with some rest, they should be just fine in no time."

She looked down at the kids again, and then she looked at Jack. "Sir, I think it would be wise if I ran some tests on the kids. Just to be sure that they're not suffering any side effects."

Jack nodded. "It's probably only prudent."

She nodded before she looked over at Grace. "Can you come with me for a minute?"

Grace looked at Jack wide-eyed.

"It's okay, Grace. She's the doctor. She's not going to hurt you."

"Okay." She said, taking Dr. Lam's extended hand.

Carolyn looked back at Jack for a moment. "Sir, if you'd like to visit with Colonel Carter...she's awake, and ready for some visitors."

"Thank you."

"I want to see Mommy." Grace said, pulling away from the doctor.

"Why don't I deliver them to you after Sam gets a chance to see them?" Jack offered.

Carolyn sighed before nodding. "Sounds good."

She led them into the infirmary where Sam lay in a hospital bed with her eyes closed.

"Colonel," she greeted.

Sam's eyes fluttered open.

"I brought you some visitors." She said with a small smile.

"Kids." She said, managing a tired smile. "Sir."

"Hey, Carter." He said, holding Jacob in his arms. "How ya feelin'?"

"Tired, but good, sir."

"Why do you call him 'sir' here and 'Jack' at home?" Grace asked, looking at her mother.

Sam sighed as she reached for her daughter's hand. "It's complicated, honey."

"You're my mommy, and he's my daddy. That's not complicated."

"It shouldn't be." Sam admitted. "But it is, unfortunately. We'll explain it better when you're older."

She sighed. "I'm seven." She reminded them.

"And such a big girl too." Sam said, smiling proudly. "I don't think we could have done what we had to do without you."

"What about me?" Michael said, his eyes wide.

"We couldn't have done it without you either."

She looked up at Jacob who was motioning to have his mother hold him with his usual "up!"

"We couldn't have done it without Jacob or the new baby either."

"New baby?" Grace piped up.

"New baby!" Michael cried, excitedly.

"She's not here yet, but in a few months, she'll be here." Sam said with a small smile. "I'm counting on you guys to help get our family ready."

Grace and Michael grinned.

"Why don't we all give Mommy hugs before we go get checked out ourselves?" Jack said, letting Jacob wrap his arms around Sam's neck as he hugged her tightly.

She kissed the top of his head gently. "I love you, sweetheart."

He grinned. "Luv'oo, Ma..."

She smiled widely as Jack took him back into his arms. "Blow kisses at Mommy?" He asked, looking at the two-year-old.

He brought his hands to his mouth and blew her a juicy kiss before Michael climbed up onto his mother's bed and gave her a hug. "I love you, Mommy." He whispered.

"I love you too." She said, returning the hug. "And I'm so impressed with how brave you were today. You did a very good job giving us the information we needed."

He smiled softly. "Thanks."

"You're welcome, kiddo." She said, rustling his hair with her hand.

He grinned as he hopped off the bed.

It was Grace's turn, and she hugged her mother tightly. "Get better soon, Mom." She said, seriously.

Sam felt her heart sink as she realized how much older each of her children looked with the burden of their last ordeal on their shoulders. "I will, sweetheart. You take care of your brothers for me?"

She nodded. "Take care of my little sister?"

"Of course." She said with a strong smile. "I'm very proud of you, Grace. You were very strong."

Grace managed a small smile. "Thanks, Mommy."

"Come on, Grace. Time to see Dr. Lam." Jack said, gently guiding the kids to Daniel, Teal'c, Vala, and Cam who had offered to take the kids to their physicals so that Jack could have a moment alone with Sam.

Grace followed the instructions perfectly as Jack stood beside Sam's bed.

"Have a seat." She invited.

"Not going to be here long, Carter." He admitted.

"Oh?"

"Yeah." He said, nodding.

Silence reigned for a moment before Sam opened her mouth. "Jack, I'm sorry..."

"No, Sam, I'm sorry." He interrupted.

She paused, and he looked at her sheepishly. "Sorry. You go first."

"Jack, I should have realized that there was more than just jealousy going on in the briefing room when you suggested I stay home." She bit her lip. "When I think about what could have happened if I'd gone..."

"Sam," he interrupted. "It was about jealousy. At least...partly."

She looked at him, confused. "I..."

He placed a finger on her lips. "But I also wanted to protect you from finding out that Narim wasn't who he said he was, from getting yourself into trouble, from getting hurt, from getting the baby hurt..."

"But I did. I did all of those things."

"And...as always," he said, seriously. "You survived. I should have had more faith in that."

She gave him a small smile of gratitude. "Thank you."

"I also have to admit that...just like I owed you my life when you sent Teal'c and Daniel to rescue me from that Ancient stasis pod thing in Antarctica...I owe you my life again."

"I don't know what I would do if I ever lost you." She said, earnestly.

He took her hand in his discreetly. "Backatcha."

She smiled softly.

"Now...get some rest. And after my meeting on Wednesday, I'm taking some time off to make sure you rest up."

"Jack..."

He handed her a letter from his pocket.

She looked at him perplexed.

"Read it."

She took the paper into her hands. "Dear General O'Neill, Your retirement has been approved." She read aloud. She looked up at him quizzically. "Retirement?"

He shrugged. "I put in for it before I found out about the kids actually being mine. I just knew I had to get into the Carter family somehow."

She chuckled softly.

"Wednesday is my briefing with the new commander of Homeworld Security."

"Oh, who is it?"

"Landry."

"What?" She asked, surprised. "Who's going to run things around here?"

"You."

Her eyes widened. "But Jack, I just..."

He handed her a second envelope. It was addressed to Landry in her own handwriting.

"It was...misplaced..." He said with a shrug. "When you and I had our little chat, I figured that the assignment for which you were being considered would meet your criteria of being able to be home and spend time with the kids. If I'm wrong, turn down the assignment and resubmit your papers. No biggie."

She chuckled as she shook her head. "You're something else, you know that?"

He chuckled. "Think you can handle Brigadier, Colonel?"

"Wait...what?" She asked as her eyes widened.

"Comes with the territory." He shrugged.

"I..." She tried to answer.

"Think about it. Let Hank know." Jack said, standing. "But in the mean time, I've got some kids to check in on."

Sam caught his hand. "Thank you for being here." She said, echoing the words she'd whispered while watching her father die.

"Always." He said with a faint smile on his lips. "You know that."


	23. Duties and Phone Calls

_1 month later:_

Brigadier General Samantha Carter smoothed her dress blues over her expanding abdomen and tucked a few stray hairs back into her bun as she walked down the corridors of the SGC. She had spent two weeks as base commander, and already she was feeling more than a little overwhelmed by the responsibility. She looked over at the guarding SFs. "I'd like to speak to our guest."

They opened the door, and she walked into the holding cell where Narim sat.

"Narim." She greeted.

He looked up. The pain of the memories of his time as a host were etched on his face, though they lightened somewhat when he saw her. "Samantha."

She smiled softly. "I wanted to see if you were ready to talk. We need some of the intelligence you can provide to us."

He nodded. "Of course."

"If you cooperate, we might be able to see about giving you some place to stay for the time being." She said, seriously.

"I will cooperate." He said, seriously.

"I knew you would." She said, nodding.

"You are the new commander of the base?"

She nodded. "Yes. Yes, I am."

"They have chosen wisely."

She shrugged, modestly. "I'm just doing my duty as well as I know how."

"Are you happy?" He asked as he noticed the engagement ring on her left ring finger.

She looked down to where his eyes rested. The memory of the last few weeks with Jack and with her kids made her smile softly before she looked back up. "Yes, Narim, I am."

"That's good to hear." He said, earnestly.

She motioned to the door. "If you'll come with me, we can start your briefing upstairs."

He nodded as she knocked on the door. "We're ready." She said to the SFs. "Escort him to the briefing room and call the base recorder. I'll join you there shortly. I'm expecting an important phone call."

"Yes, ma'am."

She walked up to her office. "Telephone on line 1, ma'am." Chief Master Sgt. Harriman announced as she passed his office.

"Thank you, Chief." She said with a warm smile.

She walked into her office and closed the door before discreetly kicking off her heels and sitting in the leather chair behind the desk. She reached for the phone, and selected line 1 for her phone call.

"Carter." She greeted.

"Hi, Mommy!" She heard three little voices call, led by one loud baritone voice.

She grinned. "Hi, kids."

"We went to the zoo today!" Grace announced.

"I saw a tiger." Michael interrupted.

"Rawr." Jacob said, obviously timid about his outburst.

Sam laughed softly. "That's great." She grinned.

"Okay, Daddy's turn." Jack said, taking the phone off of speakerphone. "Hey, Sam."

"Hi, Jack." She greeted, warmly. "How are you surviving summer vacation?"

"It's a LOT of work." He said, seriously. "But I figure that since I used to fight bad guys and politicians, I should be able to handle a handful of kids."

"Good luck." Sam laughed.

"Hey!"

She chuckled for a few more seconds before sobering. "How are they dealing with their newfound...abilities?"

"Michael hasn't had a problem with any...you know...mind-reading. Jacob hasn't needed to heal anyone. But Grace..."

"What about Grace?" She asked, seriously.

"Well...let's just say that we're not having anymore milkshakes or smoothies...she decided to set that off."

"Is it broken?"

"Well...that depends on your definition of broken..."

She chuckled. "I'll be home a little late tonight, but I should be able to fix it when I get home."

"That's right. I'm marrying a professional engineer."

"Astrophysicist and Air Force General, but engineer is definitely in the job description." She teased.

"I stand corrected."

"Well, Jack, I'm headed into a briefing. Give the kids hugs and kisses for me. I'll bring something for dinner when I come home."

"Excellent." He grinned. "Love you."

"I love you too." She said with a tender smile.

She hung up the phone before she looked down at her stomach. "Behave." She admonished. "We can't afford to replace the windows because of one of your outbursts. Not again."

She received a gentle kick in response, and she smiled before standing. Back to the everyday duties of an Air Force general.

She walked into the briefing room. "Let's get this party started."


	24. Family

_Six and 1/2 months later:_

Jack looked over at his sleeping wife from where he sat beside her on the hospital bed.

"General?" Dr. Lam whispered.

He looked over. "I'm retired. It's just Jack."

She chuckled. "Yes, sir."

"What do you need?" He asked, looking over at her.

"I thought you might want to see your daughter." She said, pushing a small bassinet into the room. "And...I wanted to let you know that you have five very anxious visitors waiting to see Sam and the baby."

"Daniel, Teal'c, Grace, Michael and Jacob..." Jack said, knowingly.

"Yes. There are, of course, many more who have sent flowers and stuffed animals, but for now, only five visitors."

Jack chuckled softly as Sam stirred. "Hey, gorgeous."

She looked up at Jack with an amused smile. "You're kidding, right?"

"Hey, after what you did today, believe me, you're gorgeous."

She smiled affectionately.

"I hear we have some visitors."

"Oh?" She asked, sitting up in bed.

"Yep. Guess who." He challenged gently.

"Let's see..." She said, thinking for a moment. "I would imagine that they are...strangers, I'm sure..."

"Oh yeah...very strange."

Sam broke out into a grin. "Send Daniel, Teal'c and the kids in here." She said, looking over at Dr. Lam.

Jack chuckled as he got off the bed and walked to the bassinet. He carefully lifted the newborn girl into his arms. "She's not going to blast me across the room for this, is she?"

Sam chuckled soundlessly. "Probably not. That power is exhausting, and she's had a long day already."

"Yeah." He said, sitting beside her.

There was a beam of light as Thor appeared in the infirmary. "Colonel Carter, O'Neill, I bring greetings and congratulations from the Asgard High Council."

Sam smiled softly. "Thank you, Thor."

"So, buddy, are our kids helping you figure out how to reverse your own fate?"

Thor face was grave. "They are helping our understanding of the reproductive process, but we have not yet found the key to our salvation."

"I'm sorry to hear that." Sam said, quietly.

"I came to inform you that we have found the anomaly which led to these children."

"Oh?" Sam asked, surprised.

"Yes. We are willing to reverse the procedure if that is your wish."

"Just because I'm curious..." Jack began. "What exactly..."

"Colonel Carter was right. The fertilized eggs were placed a temporary stasis that would end once it was released."

"How did they get there?"

"They were beamed in..." Sam sadi, looking at Thor.

He nodded. "Yes."

"Mommy!" Michael cried as he ran into the hospital room.

"Michael!" She greeted, with a grin.

"Michael!" Daniel cried, following him. "Quiet..." He noticed Thor standing near Jack. "Oh...hi, Thor."

"Greetings, Dr. Jackson."

"Mommy." Michael said with a quiet exclamation of joy as he climbed up on the bed.

She reached over and hugged him tightly. "Hi, sweetheart."

"Hi, Mom." Eight-year-old Grace said, quietly.

Sam grinned and hugged her daughter. "How did that trick work at school?"

"Oh. It was good. I only flickered the lights once."

Sam chuckled. "Good job."

Jack looked at her quizzically.

"I told her to mentally put her abilities in a box whenever she felt like she wanted to use them."

"Oh. Right."

Teal'c walked in the door, following young Jacob.

She smiled as he helped Jacob "fly" into her arms. She kissed his cheek and smoothed his hair. "Hi, little man."

"Hi, Mommy." He said with a grin.

"Is that our sister?" Michael asked, staring at the tiny infant who laid in Jack's arms, her stocking-capped head resting in his hands.

"Yes, Michael." Sam said, looking back at her newborn daughter. "That's your new baby sister."

"She's so little." Grace said in awe.

Sam chuckled, biting back a remark about how big the baby had felt for the last few months.

"What's her name?" Daniel asked, looking over at Sam from where he'd stood admiring the baby.

"Janet Christene." Sam said, looking at her husband.

Daniel and Teal'c both sobered as they remembered their dear and departed friend.

"Dr. Fraiser would be honored by such a tribute." Teal'c said seriously.

"We thought so too, T." Jack said, nodding.

"Can I hold her?" Grace asked, looking up at her father with wide eyes.

"I don't see why not." Jack said, seriously. "As long as you're careful."

"I will be." She assured.

"Me too!" Michael cried.

"Me too!" Jacob chimed in.

"Okay, one at a time." Jack chuckled. "Grace, you asked first. How about you sit in that chair?"

She walked over to a nearby chair and sat in it. Jack walked over.

"Put your arms like this." Sam said, crossing her arms in front of her as if she was holding the baby herself.

Grace nodded obediently.

"Careful to keep her head supported, okay?" Jack said, lowering the infant into her older sister's arms.

"Okay." She said, nodding. She held the baby in her arms and broke into an ear-splitting grin. "I have a baby sister."

Sam grinned as she and Jack shared a smile. Her family was special, she decided. Not because it had been classified Top-Secret, but because she and Jack had created it with the help of the Asgard.

Thor noticed Sam's moist eyes. "Colonel Carter, are you all right?"

Jack walked back to sit beside his wife. "Are you okay?" He asked, concerned.

She smiled before looking at them both. "I'm better than okay." She said with a grin.

Jack squeezed her shoulder gently before looking back at Grace.

Sam wrapped her arms around Jack. "I love you." She whispered softly in his ear.

"Backatcha." He said tenderly as he looked back at her with a wink and a smile.


End file.
